Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Badger Township was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 6 buildings. Below: maps from 1968 on and the census since 1920.
Badger Township dates its founding to 1906 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1920.
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 Badger Township’s history is told.
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 Badger Township.
Badger was laid out in 1906, taking its name from Lake Badger. A post office has been in operation at Badger since 1908.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 Badger Township. 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 Badger Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 99 and 180 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Badger Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1906, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Badger Township’s post office opened in 1879, and the census of 1920 counted 162 people here.
Three places: the South Dakota Dept. of Transportation Bridge No. 47-151-389 (listed 1993), the Olaf Stordahl Barn (2002) and the Berger Farmstead (2005).
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
