Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Minto School. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1890.
The Minto post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1881.
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 Minto’s history is told.
Peaked at 860 in 1900; 616 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Minto’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Minto.
A post office has been in operation at Minto since 1880. Minto was incorporated in 1883. The city was named after Minto, Ontario, the native home of a large share of the early settlers. The St. Joseph's Chapel was built by Polish immigrants in 1907.
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
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2009Minto, North Dakota
2006Minto, North Dakota
2006Minto, North Dakota
2006Minto, North Dakota
2006Minto, North Dakota
2004NDMap-doton-Minto
2001Service station(?)Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Minto. 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 Minto.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1904Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Minto’s post office has been open since 1880.
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.
The Minto post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1881.
One place: the Minto School (listed 1992).
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 (17), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
