Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Fontanelle Township Hall. Below: maps from 1969 on.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Township 6 is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Nebraska towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Nebraska town has 16.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Township 6’s 6.8 sits near the middle of its state (40% of Nebraska towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Township 6’s history is told.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Township 6 yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Township 6 is one of five townships in Washington County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,516 at the 2000 census. A 2006 estimate placed the township's population at 1,713.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,545 in 2010, 1,545 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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 SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Township 6. 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 Township 6.
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 Township 6 itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Township 6 is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Fontanelle Township Hall (listed 1982).
46% of Township 6’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Nebraska town; the median home was built in 1960.
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).
From Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
