Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
11 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 42 buildings between them. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1880.
Augusta dates its founding to 1836 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Augusta.
Augusta was founded in 1836, by Heinrich Knoernschild of Tiefengrun, Germany. There are stories of another man who named the town after his wife, although those theories cannot be proven.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltMt. Pleasant Winery Historic District is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Augusta. 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 Augusta.
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 Augusta’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 195 and 318 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Augusta’s Wikipedia page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Augusta’s history is told.
In 1836, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Augusta’s post office opened in 1842, and the census of 1880 counted 318 people here.
11 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Staudinger-Grumke House-Store (listed 1992, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Mt. Pleasant Winery Historic District, the Walnut Street Historic District and the Harold-Knoernschild Farmstead Historic District, with 42 contributing buildings. 52 historic buildings in all.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (9), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (11), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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