Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the James A. and Ida Bell Gold House and the Big Stone City Hall. Below: maps from 1898 on and the census since 1880.
The Big Stone City post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Inkpa City (1875) and Bigstone (1894), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
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 Big Stone City’s history is told.
Peaked at 829 in 1950; 412 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Big Stone City’s Wikipedia page.
Big Stone City’s post office has been open since 1879. 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 Big Stone City.
The community now known as Big Stone City was established in 1878 as Inkpa City (after Chief Inkpaduta). It served as the seat of Grant County from 1880 to 1883. The present name comes from nearby Big Stone Lake. Big Stone City was incorporated in 1885.
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.
BuiltJames A. and Ida Bell Gold House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Big Stone City. 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 Big Stone City.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1898Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Big Stone City itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Big Stone City post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the James A. and Ida Bell Gold House (listed 2008) and the Big Stone City Hall (2004).
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2015
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