Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Bridge No. 1482. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1967 on, and the census since 1880.
Luverne Township dates its founding to 1870 (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 Luverne Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Luverne Township.
A post office called Luverne has been in operation since 1868. Luverne was platted in 1870 and named for Luverne Hawes, the daughter of a settler.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1883 bird's eye view of Luverne. County seat of Rock County, Minnesota
In the archiveLuverne Hospital ("American medical directory", 1906 advert)
In the archiveThe fabled goose which laid the golden egg was made a reality
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Luverne 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 Luverne Township.
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 Luverne Township’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.
Grew from 679 people in 1880 to 4,946 in 2020, 7 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Luverne Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1870, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1880 counted 679 people here.
One place: the Bridge No. 1482 (listed 1992).
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 (2), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
