Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 28 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1965 on, and the census since 1890.
Table Rock dates its founding to 1855 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1890.
Table Rock was named from a large rock formation nearby on the Nemaha River which has since been destroyed.
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 Table Rock’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Table Rock.
Table Rock was platted in 1855. It was named from a large rock formation nearby on the Nemaha River which has since been destroyed. It failed to prosper until the Atchison and Nebraska Railroad was built through town in about 1882.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 852 in 1900; 233 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Table Rock’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltLindsley House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveJohn Gere's Gravestone
In the archiveGravestone In Tree2 decades in the archive, from the 1970s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Table Rock. 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 Table Rock.
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 Table Rock’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
In 1855, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Table Rock’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1890 counted 673 people here.
Three places: the Table Rock Opera House (listed 1988), the Lindsley House (1999) and the Table Rock Public Square Historic District (1994).
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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