Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 1880.
Mill Spring dates its founding to 1871 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
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 Mill Spring’s history is told.
Peaked at 257 in 1980; 159 people lived here in 2020.
8 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mill Spring’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mill Spring.
Mill Spring was laid out in 1871. The community took its name from a nearby spring of the same name which once powered lumber mills. A post office called Mill Spring has been in operation since 1874.
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 hereBernarr Macfadden is 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 Mill Spring. 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 Mill Spring.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
In 1871, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Mill Spring’s post office opened in 1874, and the census of 1880 counted 174 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, 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.
