Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Arcadia Township Carnegie Library. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1890.
The Arcadia post office opened in 1874, 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.
Peaked at 745 in 1920; 283 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Arcadia’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Arcadia.
Arcadia was platted in 1885 when it was certain that the railroad would soon be extended to that point. The name was apparently chosen by the postmaster, Sarah Coulter Hawthorne, in 1874 in reference to the wild roses which were common to the area as she mistakenly believed the name to mean "feast of flowers."
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.
In the archiveBusy Saturday
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Arcadia. 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 Arcadia.
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.
1899Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Arcadia’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Arcadia itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Arcadia post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Arcadia Township Carnegie Library (listed 2020).
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 (2), the Library of Congress (8), 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.
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