Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Johnson was built recently: 0.3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: maps from 1909 on and the census since 1990.
Johnson first appears in the census in 1990.
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 Johnson’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Johnson.
In 1982 residents decided to incorporate to stop Shawnee's plans to establish a landfill near the Johnson community. On May 11, 1982, citizens voted 77 to 40 in favor of incorporation.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings 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 Johnson. 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 Johnson.
Grew from 196 people in 1990 to 457 in 2020.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Johnson’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Johnson itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Johnson post office opened in 1990, 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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
