Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 1900.
The Blythedale post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Blythedale’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Blythedale.
Blythedale was laid out in 1880, and named in honor of a railroad employee. A post office called Blythedale has been in operation since 1880.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Blythedale, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Blythedale, a thriving village of 294 population on the Burlington Railroad is located on sections 34 and 35 in Colfax Township. This is an important trading and shipping point and has some of the leading mercantile establishments of the county and the banking interests are represented here by one of the substantial banks of the county. Blythedale has a number of churches and is known for the excellency of its public schools.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
of Marion Township February 7, 1885, by Revs. J. H. Bun-ows and John Woodward. The first meetings were held in the Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse and later a church building was erected. The Baptist Church at Blythedale was organized in October, 1885. The Baptist Society was organized at Mount Moriah in 1862 and the first meetings were held in a store room and their first church erected in 1877. One of the old religious organizations of the county was Mount Pleasant Church No. 1, Missionary Baptist, which was organized in Fox Creek Township in 1851. The Bethel
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.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blythedale. 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 Blythedale.
Between 130 and 345 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blythedale’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Blythedale post office opened in 1880, 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, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.
