Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1900.
Aurora Springs dates its founding to 1880 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1900.
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 Aurora Springs’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Aurora Springs. 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 Aurora Springs.
From Wikipedia’s history of Aurora Springs.
Aurora Springs was platted in 1880 and named for a mineral spring near the original town site. A post office called Aurora Springs was established in 1882 and remained in operation until 1912.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 116 and 900 people in every census since 1900.
4 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Aurora Springs’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Aurora Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Aurora Springs had its own post office from 1882 to 1912.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1880, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Aurora Springs’ post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1900 counted 900 people here.
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, 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.
