Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Bridge No. 90980 and the Bridge No. 5388 (Bridge No. R0529).
The Forest City Township post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Forest City (1856), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Forest City Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Forest City Township.
Forest City was platted in 1857, and named for its location near the Big Woods. A post office was established at Forest City in 1856, and remained in operation until 1907.
Forest City was attacked by Little Crow's band of Dakota during the 1862 Dakota War. Several buildings were burned, but the attack was unsuccessful.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Forest City Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Forest City, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Forest City Township post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the Bridge No. 90980 (listed 1997) and the Bridge No. 5388 (Bridge No. R0529) (1998).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
