Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1960 on and the census since 1950.
Climax Springs dates its founding to 1882 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1950.
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 Climax Springs’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Climax Springs.
A post office called Climax was established in 1883, and the name was changed to Climax Springs in 1886. The community took its name from a mineral spring near the original town site. According to tradition, an enthusiastic settler cried "that caps the climax!" upon discovering the spring and realizing its potential as a mineral spa.
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Climax Springs.
1960Climax Springs sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Climax Springs.
Between 80 and 151 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Climax Springs’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Climax Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Climax, 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).
In 1882, according to Wikidata. Climax Springs’ post office opened in 1883, and the census of 1950 counted 151 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.
