Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot and Lunchroom and the Muret N. Leland House. Its Register listings are the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot and Lunchroom and the Muret N. Leland House. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1946 on and old-book passages.
The Wells post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Walnut Lake (1860) and Well (1869), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wells is more historic than 78% 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 Wells’ 13.1 sits above most of its state (79% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% 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 Wells’s history is told.
Wells’s post office has been open since 1872. Two 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 Wells.
Wells was laid out in 1869. The city was named for J.W. Wells, father in law of Clark W. Thompson.
The city contains a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot and Lunchroom.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Wells, cut from the printed page as they were published.
"An act to amend the act incorporating the village of Wells." "An act to amend an act incorporating the village of Winnebago City." "An act to authorize the county commissioners of this county to issue bonds for the purpose of liuilding a jail."
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Wells was the first railroad town in this county, and for a time its growth was very rapid. It was in January. 1870, that the Southern Minnesota Railroad was completed to Wells, and the first train of cars reached the village. For a year following it was the railroad grain market of the county. Some years after ( 1874) the Minnesota Central Railroad, running from Mankato to Wells, was completed, and afterwards became a branch of the Southern Minnesota Railroad. This branch gives the village important connections.
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 hereCarl Wood Riddick is born here
Born hereLarry Buendorf is born here
In the archiveDowntown Wells, Minnesota after 1946 tornado
Born hereCooper Boone is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. 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 Wells’ 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Wells post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wells is more historic than 78% 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.
Two places: the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot and Lunchroom (listed 1980) and the Muret N. Leland House (1980).
37% of Wells’ 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 1954.
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 (2), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2023
