Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1967 on and the census since 1900.
The Ghent post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Grandview (1874), opened inside today’s city 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 Ghent’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ghent.
Ghent was originally called Grand View, and under the latter name was platted in 1878. The present name is after the Belgian city of Ghent. A post office was established as Grandview in 1874, and renamed Ghent in 1882. The city was incorporated in 1899.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ghent, cut from the printed page as they were published.
ing to Lyon county in 1878 at the age of twenty-one years. He bought railroad land on section 15, Grandview township, adjoining the village of Ghent. He built a little shack on the place and made his home there until 1880, when he moved the building to Ghent, which at that time had only one other building of any importance, a grocery store con-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A petition asking for the incorporation of the northwest quarter of section 15, Grandview township, as the village of Ghent was filed with the county auditor March 28, 1899. It was signed 4A petition for incorporation had been presented to the County Board in the spring of 1897. but that body had refused to act on the same.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 Ghent. 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 Ghent.
Grew from 119 people in 1900 to 376 in 2020, 3 times over.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ghent’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Ghent itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Ghent’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Grandview, 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).
The Ghent post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
