Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1900.
The Mercer post office opened in 1855, 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 Mercer’s history is told.
Peaked at 533 in 1910; 263 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mercer’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mercer.
A post office was established in 1859 and Mercer was platted in the 1870s when the railroad was extended to that point. The original named of the community was Marion for Marion Merwitt, the daughter of a local pharmacist, but the town was incorporated in 1886 under the name Mercer.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Mercer, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Agricultural Association. — The first agricultural association in Mercer County, organized in 1859, was incorporated by the following order from the county court, April 15, 1859: "This day a petition signed by more than fifty free holders of Mercer County, for the organization of a county agricultural and mechanical society, to be called the Mercer County Agricultural and Mechanical Society, was presented, praying that this court would make an order declaring such petitioners incorporated for such purposes. It is
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Early Schools of Mercer County. — The first schools in Mercer County were of a most primitive and elementary character. As soon as three or fourfamilies had located in a neighborhood, they united in erecting a log schoolhouse, sometimes without a floor, and lighted by a window made by sawing out a log on one side of the house.
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 Mercer. 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 Mercer.
Mercer had its own post office from 1855 to 1871.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Mercer post office opened in 1855, 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.
