Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.
The Spring Valley post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spring Valley is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Spring Valley’s 34.7 sits above most of its state (91% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 8 listings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Spring Valley’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Spring Valley.
Spring Valley was laid out in 1855, and named for a spring near the town site. A post office has been in operation at Spring Valley since 1855. Spring Valley was incorporated in 1872.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Spring Valley, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Spring Valley in 1868. A pamphlet issued in 1858 has the following to say of Spring Valley: " The village was laid out in the spring of 1856, and now contains some thirty or more houses.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Erected on the town line in section 32. The initial teacher was William Farnsworth. District 112 embraces the village of Spring Valley and is elsewhere treated in full. District 178 embraces land in Spring Valley and Fillmore. It was created from districts 124, 97, 115 and 172, by the county commissioners, July 14, 1890. The schoolhouse is in section 12.
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.
Born hereEdward Everett Smith is born here
Born hereMalcolm Williams is born hereBuiltSpring Valley Carnegie Library is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHistoric Bluff Country Scenic Byway - Spring Valley Tourist Information CenterOne decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spring Valley. 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 Spring Valley.
Between 1,256 and 2,628 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Spring Valley’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Spring Valley’s post office has been open since 1855.
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 Spring Valley post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Spring Valley is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
8 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Spring Valley Methodist Episcopal Church (listed 1975, the first), and 1 structure.
38% of Spring Valley’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1962.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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