Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The West Albany Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, West Albany (1857), Thielmanton (1878) and Thielman (1895), opened inside today’s town 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 West Albany Township’s history is told.
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 West Albany Township.
West Albany was platted in 1857, and named after Albany, New York, the native home of a large share of the first settlers. A post office called West Albany was established in 1857, and remained in operation until 1881.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention West Albany Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Carl Fuhrman, one of the early settlers in West Albany Township, long since deceased, was a native of Germany, and came to this country and to Minnesota at a very early day in the history of Wabasha County, accompanied by his widowed mother. On their arrival in West Albany Township, Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
gaged in farming and railroad work, about three years in Plainview, where he manufactured brick with his brother-in-law, Alfred Burkhardt, and five years in Hammond, where he operated the William Anderson farm. In the spring of 1916 he returned to the home farm in West Albany Township, buying out his brother John’s interest in the stock and machinery, his mother having a life interest in the farm, which contains 230 acres. Of its entire area 90 acres are under cultivation, the balance being in pasture and timber. Mr. Jacob feeds everything he raises on the farm to his stock, which consists of grade Durham
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in West Albany Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The West Albany Township post office opened in 1857, 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 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.
