Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Chamberlain Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listing is the Chamberlain Rest Stop Tipi. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1890.
Chamberlain Township dates its founding to 1881 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1890.
From Wikipedia’s history of Chamberlain Township.
Chamberlain was named after Selah Chamberlain, a railroad director of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, as it was established by European Americans in relation to the construction of the railroad. The city is called "earth dwelling" in Lakota.
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.
In the archiveChamberlain, S.D
In the archiveChamberlain, South Dakota (1911)
In the archiveLake Shore Motel, one block off Highway U.S. 16, on the Fort Randall Reservoir Shore, Cha…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveAuction of calves at Chamberllain Sales Ring. Chamberlain, South Dakota4 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chamberlain 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 Chamberlain Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Chamberlain Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 874 and 2,626 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chamberlain Township’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1881, according to Wikidata. the census of 1890 counted 939 people here.
One place: the Chamberlain Rest Stop Tipi (listed 2015).
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 (7), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1907
1907
1907
1907![Goverment [sic] Indian School](https://images.townratings.com/story/33639/c36c9b2b2b74ceeba7d5-s.jpg)
1907
c. 1930
2007