Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Stone County Courthouse and the Y Bridge. Below: maps from 1907 on and the census since 1860.
Galena dates its founding to 1852 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.
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 Galena’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1870, then grew more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Galena’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Galena. 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 Galena.
From Wikipedia’s history of Galena.
Galena was platted in 1852, and named for deposits of the ore galena near the original town site. An early variant name was "Jamestown". A post office has been in operation at Galena since 1853. Roscoe Jackson was the last person to be publicly executed in the United States, which took place in Galena, in 1937.
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.
Born hereDewey Jackson Short is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born herePamela Pauly Chinnis is born hereThe 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Galena’s post office has been open since 1853.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1852, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Galena’s post office opened in 1853, and the census of 1860 counted 55 people here.
Two places: the Stone County Courthouse (listed 1980) and the Y Bridge (1991).
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) 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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