Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1900.
The Glenville post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Shell Rock (1856), 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 Glenville’s history is told.
Peaked at 851 in 1980; 568 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Glenville’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Glenville.
First platted as Shell Rock in 1856, Glenville was then incorporated in 1898. The name Glenville was created by the officers of the railroad company.
In 1870 the Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern Railroad was run through Glenville.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Glenville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1908 Mr. Freeman moved into the village of Glenville, where he lives a retired life. He was one of the first settlers in Free¬ man township and for his family it was named. When a hoy hut thirteen years of age he was cast on his own resources, and for some time was employed by Henry Follett, a brother of Sir John Follett. Mr. Freeman belongs to all the Masonic bodies repre¬ sented in Albert Lea, and also to the Osman Temple, Mystic Shriners, at St. Paul. Being seventy-eight years old at the time
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
few months and losing about $2,000, the creamery burned to the ground one night. This was the end of the dairying in this vicinity for several years, but in 1894 interest was again revived and in November, 1895, the Glenville Association put in a skim¬ ming station in charge of John Buley, which continued until 1898. December 14, 1897, a meeting of the farmers was held and the equipment of the skimming station offered for sale at $680. This v as latei bought for $600 and on December 22 the organization
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 Glenville. 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 Glenville.
Glenville’s post office has been open since 1879. Another post office, Shell Rock, 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 Glenville post office opened in 1879, 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.
