Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1890.
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 Bryan Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bryan Township.
Twenty two persons submitted a petition for the incorporation of Township 147 Range 61 on August 13, 1900, and the County Commission ordered an election to be held on September 4, 1900, to elect officers. Ole Bakken suggested the township be named after William Jennings Bryan.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 274 in 1920; 39 people lived here in 2010.
13 censuses, 1890–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bryan Township’s Wikipedia page.
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 Bryan Township. 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 Bryan Township.
Nobody well known was born in Bryan Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Mose, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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.
