Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Bruha, Josef, and Anna Beran, House. Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1940.
The Elyria post office opened in 1888, 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elyria’s history is told.
Peaked at 89 in 1960; 50 people lived here in 2020.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Elyria’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Elyria.
Elyria was originally named Eldon and was established in 1888 when the railroad was extended to the area. It was later renamed Elyria after discovering that another town named Eldon already existed in Nebraska.
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elyria.
1952Elyria 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 Elyria.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Elyria itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Elyria post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Bruha, Josef, and Anna Beran, House (listed 1990).
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 (3), 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) 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.
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