Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1934 on and old-book passages.
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 Highland Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Highland Township.
Highland Township was originally called Smithfield Township, and under the latter name was organized in 1858. The present name is descriptive of the land's lofty elevation.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Highland Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
railroads in that and adjoining states. Then returning home, he remained on the farm for two years. He now engaged in farming for himself, buying a farm near Plainview, but after awhile he disposed of the place and bought another in Highland Township, and later 160 acres in the town of Watopa. On the last mentioned farm he resided for ten years, operating it on a profitable basis. At the end of that time he retired and moved to Kellogg, of which place he has since been a resident. He has sold a part of his farm, retaining 80 acres, which he has rented out to a tenant, and is now enjoying a period of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Gottfried Schad, a pioneer of Highland Township, now deceased, was a native of Germany, and came to the United States and to Wabasha County, Minn., when this part of the country was new and wild, homesteading 160 acres of land in sections 5 and 8, Highland Township. The tract was largely covered with timber, which he cleared, and his first residence here, erected by himself, was a small log shanty without windows or doors. After marrying Barbara Lowry, a native of Indiana, the needs of a growing family made better accommodations imperative, and he accordingly erected a larger and
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Highland 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 Highland Township.
Another post office, Conception, 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.
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, 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.
