Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Bjorneberg Garage and the Liberal Union Hall. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1917 on and old-book passages.
The Hanska post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Hanska’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hanska.
A post office called Hanska has been in operation since 1890. Hanska was platted in 1899, and incorporated as a village in 1901.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hanska, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Minneapolis & St. Louis railroad runs through the northwest corner of the township, but its nearest station is at the village of Hanska, just over the township line. The township has had a population of late years as follows: In 1890 it had seven hundred and sixty-two; in 1900 it was seven hundred and fifty-three, and in 1910 it was reported to be six hundred and ninety-one.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Hanska postoffice was established in June, 1890. The amount of postal business transacted during the last fiscal year was one thousand eight hundred and forty-two dollars and fifty-three cents. There are now three rural delivery routes extending out from Hanska. The amount in the postal savings department was only ten dollars at the last accounting. During postmaster Carlson’s administration there was a small robbery in this postoffice.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hanska’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Hanska’s post office has been open since 1890.
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 Hanska post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the Bjorneberg Garage (listed 1979) and the Liberal Union Hall (1979).
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
1917