Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1967 on and the census since 1880.
Freeborn Township dates its founding to 1857 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
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 Freeborn Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Freeborn Township.
Freeborn was platted in 1857, and was incorporated in 1949. The city of Freeborn, like its namesake county, the surrounding township, and Freeborn Lake, upon which the city is situated, derives its name from William Freeborn, a member of Minnesota's Territorial Legislature. A post office has remained in continuous operation at Freeborn since 1857.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Freeborn Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Freeborn Township.
Between 72 and 323 people in every census since 1880.
9 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Freeborn Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1857, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1880 counted 72 people here.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
