Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1965 on, and the census since 1840.
Clarksville dates its founding to 1835 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1840.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Another post office, Obi, 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveNew Scotland. (Township); New Salem (Village); Clarksville Business Directory; New Salem …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clarksville’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Clarksville.
The first settlers arrived around 1822. The town of Clarksville was founded in 1835, taking away part of the town of Cuba.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clarksville. 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 Clarksville.
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 Clarksville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 326 and 1,161 people in every census since 1840.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clarksville’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1835, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Clarksville’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1840 counted 326 people here.
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 (6), 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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2013
