Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1905 on and old-book passages.
The Morton post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Birch Cooley (1867), 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 Morton’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Morton.
Morton was platted in 1882. Morton was incorporated in 1887. Darby Nelson (1940–2022), writer and politician, lived in Morton.
The 1862 Battle of Birch Coulee took place in what would later become the town of Morton and the adjacent Birch Coulee Township.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Morton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
later being honored by being sent to the state senate, in which capacity he showed that same solid worth and good judgment which had previously been his distinguishing characteristics. In 1903 the family moved to Morton, and here died on duly 29, 1910, at the age of sixty-eight, she who through so many trying years had been his faithful wife and helpmate. Judge Ahrens continued to live in Morton, until, rich in honor, years, and the respect of his fellow men, he died Jan. 30, 1914, at the age of eighty-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first school in the vicinity of Morton was taught by Laura Simmons in the home of L. D. Griffin some two and a quarter miles east of Morton.
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to 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 Morton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Morton’s post office has been open since 1894. Another post office, Birch Cooley, 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 Morton post office opened in 1894, 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 Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.
2025