Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Martin V. Linwell House. Its Register listing is the Martin V. Linwell House.
The Northwood post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1884.
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 Northwood’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Northwood.
A tornado, rated EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, struck Northwood on the evening of August 26, 2007 causing destruction to the entire town and killing one person. Later on some of the buildings were burned, collapsed, or torn down because of severe damage to the buildings from the tornado.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
The Northwood post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1884.
One place: the Martin V. Linwell House (listed 1980).
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.