Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Nankin post office opened in 1833, 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 Nankin’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Nankin.
Nankin was originally called Orange, and under the latter name was laid out in 1828. A post office called Nankin has been in operation since 1833.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Nankin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
tracts. He has built all of the pike roads of Ashland county, has improved sixteen streets in the city, paving thirteen of these with brick, and has done extensive contracting for the Erie Railroad, making grades for the double '.acks on the road from Nankin Station to Pope Station. He was also awarded tfte contract for the grading from Ashland switch to Milton tower and the grading from the Olivesburg road to Madison Summit. In 1904 he laid out, graded and paved the streets and put in the sewers of the John Sherman estate in Mansfield. He also did the grading of West Arch street, Daisy street, Ham-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
has somewhat checked its growth. It contains one hotel, one dry goods store, one or two groceries, a blacksmith shop, two tanneries, a shoe shop, a harness menufactory, a tailor shop, a post-office called Nankin, a physician, a Presbyterian and a Methodist church, and a good school. 'The New York, Pennsylvania &: Ohio railway passes near the village and has a small station and telegraph office. The village is estimated to contain two
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Nankin post office opened in 1833, 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 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.