Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Anthon W. Elster House and the Dickens Round Barn. Most of La Valley Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Its Register listings are the Anthon W. Elster House and the Dickens Round Barn. Below: maps from 1897 on.
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 La Valley Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Valley 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 La Valley Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of La Valley Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 550 to 692 (+26%).
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Two places: the Anthon W. Elster House (listed 2010) and the Dickens Round Barn (2019).
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 (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
