Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The McKnightstown post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 2010.
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 McKnightstown’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of McKnightstown.
The founder of the Eshelman manufacturing company was born in the town, and the 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy travelled through the town on the Lincoln Highway before a modern highway bypassed the town in 1948–9.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention McKnightstown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
McKnightstown (or New Salem) is so named from the fact that it occupies a part of the old McKnight farm. In 1860 Albert Vandyke sold a tract of land to John Hartman; the same year he and Hezekiah Latshaw surveyed and platted a village, and immediately a house was erected by Abram Mickley.
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.
Nobody well known was born in McKnightstown itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The McKnightstown post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 2010.
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 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.
