Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 44 buildings. Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1880.
The Danbury post office opened in 1851, 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 Danbury’s history is told.
The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Danbury.
Danbury was founded in 1851 specifically to serve as the new centrally located county seat after Stokes County was divided in 1849, creating Forsyth County to the south (with the new county seat of Winston, later Winston-Salem) and a smaller Stokes County. Danbury was briefly known as Crawford.
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 Survey
2020Stokes County Courthouse
2020Danbury, North Carolina
2017Danbury, United States (Unsplash)
2016Stars behind the clouds (Unsplash)
2016Main Street
2016Danbury, North Carolina
2016Danbury, NC, USA
2016Danbury, NC, USA - panoramio - Idawriter
2016Danbury, NC, USA - panoramio - Idawriter (1)
2016Danbury Community Church
2016Danbury City Limit
2016Danbury Baptist Church
2016Dan River
2014Old Stokes County Courthouse, Historic District of
2009Upper Cascades Hanging Rock State Park
2009Reflection Upper Cascades Hanging Rock State Park
2009Ranger Dave Cook Upper Cascades Hanging Rock State Pa…
2004NCMap-doton-DanburyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Danbury. 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 Danbury.
Between 108 and 189 people in every census since 1880.
8 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Danbury’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Danbury post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Three places: the Moratock Iron Furnace (listed 1974), the Stokes County Courthouse (1979) and the Danbury Historic District (1986).
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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
