Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1920.
The Leonard post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Greenfield (1838), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Leonard’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Leonard.
A post office called Leonard has been in operation since 1875. The community was named after Leonora Miller, the daughter of a local mill owner (a recording error accounts for the error in spelling, which was never corrected).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Leonard, cut from the printed page as they were published.
other members of the family and soon afterward he purchased 128 acres of land in section G, Black Creek township, two miles south of the village of Leonard, where he developed a productive farm, making excellent improvements on the same, and where he continued to be known as a thrifty and successful farmer
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
advantages of the district school of the neighborhood. Later he continued his studies in the public schools of the village of Leonard. He left school at the age of nineteen years and thereafter he continued to be identified willi the work and management of liis father's farm until 1902, when he purchased sixty acres
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.
Weddings 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 Leonard. 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 Leonard.
Between 57 and 231 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Leonard’s Wikipedia page.
Leonard’s post office has been open since 1875. Another post office, Greenfield, 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).
The Leonard post office opened in 1875, 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, 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.
