Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1967 on, and the census since 1880.
The Vernon Center post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Vernon (1858), Vernon Centre (1861) and Edgewood (1880), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Vernon Center was named after Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Vernon Center’s post office has been open since 1894. Three other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Vernon Center.
Vernon Center was platted in 1857. It was named after Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington.
On the morning of October 25, 2005, the grain elevator in downtown Vernon Center, filled with 200,000 bushels (5,000 metric tons) of corn, exploded, injuring six people. Flames from the explosion shot about 200 feet (61 meters) in the air.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Vernon Center, cut from the printed page as they were published.
pany in October, 1879, called "East Vernon Center" and the other platted on November 37th, 1879, by Elnathan Kendall, under the name of "Vernon Center." The name of the station was changed soon thereafter to "Edgewood" and again later to "Vernon Center." For two or three years there was a hot rivalry between the old and new town, but the location of the railroad
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Vernon about half a mile to the east, and a new townsite was laid out on the north side of the river by Elnathan Kendall in August, 1879, called "Vernon Center." The railway company laid out another small townsite adjoining the Kendall town called "East Vernon." The new station and town were at first called "Edgewood." For two or three years there was a
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.
In the archiveDowntown Vernon Center, Minnesota - DPLA - 32b17635ba79b271bc6021b68949993d
In the archiveScene on the Blue Earth River, Vernon Center, Minnesota - DPLA - 6283ae1a18d674284ce2a38e…
In the archiveMain Street looking west, Vernon Center, Minnesota - DPLA - d917d2d0aaf12892da5cea641c0ce…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1893–1909Downtown Vernon Center, Minnesota - DPLA - 32b17635ba…c. 1908Scene on the Blue Earth River, Vernon Center, Minneso…Postcard
c. 1908Scene on the Blue Earth River, Vernon Center, Minneso…Postcard
c. 1909Greetings from Vernon Center, Minnesota - DPLA - c4e7…Postcardc. 1910Main Street looking west, Vernon Center, Minnesota - …Postcard
1911Dedication of the Opera House, Vernon Center, Minneso…PostcardEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Vernon Center. 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 Vernon Center.
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 Vernon Center’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 125 and 365 people in every census since 1880.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Vernon Center’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Vernon Center 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 (6), 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 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.
