Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Mineral Point was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1910.
The Mineral Point post office opened in 1858, 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 Mineral Point’s history is told.
Peaked at 384 in 1990; 231 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mineral Point’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mineral Point. 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 Mineral Point.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mineral Point.
Mineral Point had its start in the 1850s as a lead-mining settlement. The community owes its name to the wealth of minerals found in the vicinity. Mineral Point was situated along the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway. A post office has been in operation at Mineral Point since 1858.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Mineral Point itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Mineral Point post office opened in 1858, 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) 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.
