Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1873 on and old-book passages.
The Asbury post office opened in 1812, 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 Asbury’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Asbury.
The community was named for Francis Asbury, the first American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States.
The Asbury Historic District encompassing the community was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 19, 1993, for its significance in architecture, industry, religion, community development, politics/government, and commerce.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Asbury, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Asbury had a grist mill long before the Revolutionary War. The place was then called Hall’s Mills. William McCullough, who later founded Washington, came to Asbury in 1784, at the age of twenty-five. At the age of seventeen he had enlisted in the army, and served as a Quartermaster throughout the War. Mr. McCullough was a member of the Assembly and a county Judge from 1803 to 1838. In 1786 the McCulloughs became converts of Methodism, and Bishop Asbury and Rev. George Banghart used to hold public worship at their house. In 1800 the old Methodist Church was built, and church and town were named in honor of the Bishop, who laid the cornerstone when the church was started, August 9, 1796.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Asbury’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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Asbury post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1873
2023