Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1940 on and old-book passages.
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 Atchison Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Atchison Township.
Atchison Township was established in April 1845, and named after David Rice Atchison, a United States Senator from Missouri.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Atchison Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Ephraim W. Johnson was the first settler in Atchison Township. He came from Lawrence County, Indiana, and arrived November 6, 1841, at a point three miles north of where he now lives, where he spent the first winter. In the spring of the next year (1842) he settled on the place where he now resides, about eight miles northeast of Clearmont, on section 35, township 66, range 36. There were no sections then, and he simply took a claim after the manner of the first settlers. He now lives three-fourths of a mile south of the Iowa State line. This territory was
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
division of Atchison Township, as appears from the record of the County Court, made at its November term of that year. The entry of record is in words and figures as follows : A majority of the legal voters of Atchison Township present a petition to the county court to have Atchison Township divided into two townships, to be known as Atchison and Lincoln Townships, said townships commencing at the Iowa line, and in the center of said Nodaway River, and run with the center of the river to the section line between
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Atchison Township. 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 Atchison Township.
Nobody well known was born in Atchison Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
