Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1870.
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 Clifton’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1870 and 1880, then grew 9-fold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clifton’s Wikipedia page.
Two 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Clifton.
The first settlers came to work at the Clifton Iron Mine circa 1866, which built its first iron furnace the same year.
The town was formed in 1868 from the Town of Pierrepont. The first town meeting was held in the office of the Clifton Iron Mine.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Clifton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Richard de Borard, the eldest son, became Lord of Clifton, Okeley and Stratherne on the death of his father. The church of Clifton, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded by the family of Borard soon after the Conquest, and the right of presentation continued ever afterwards in the successive Lords of the Manor. In the exercise of this right Richard de Borard presented his brother Asceline, who was in holy orders, to the church of Clifton in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Manor of Clifton, Co. Bucks, passed to the familj' of Reynes in 1275 by the marriage of the only daughter and heir, Joan Borard of Clifton, to Thomas Reynes, and from this the place took its distinguishing appellation of Clifton Reynes.
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.
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 Clifton. 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 Clifton.
Nobody well known was born in Clifton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
