Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1890.
Portland dates its founding to 1881 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 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 Portland’s history is told.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Portland.
The first settlement at Portland was made in 1871. Portland was laid out and platted in 1881 when the railroad was extended to that point. A post office has been in operation at Portland since 1882.
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 SurveyThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Portland.
1967Mayville South sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Portland.
Between 367 and 641 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Portland’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Portland itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1881, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Portland’s post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1890 counted 367 people here.
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 (7), 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.
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