Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #20 of 35 in South Dakota. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Harney Hospital. Below: maps from 1897 on and the census since 1880.
The Lennox post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ben Lennox (1879), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lennox is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #20 of 35 in South Dakota. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
South Dakota towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Dakota town has 37.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lennox’s 8.1 sits near the middle of its state (43% of South Dakota towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Lennox’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lennox. 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 Lennox.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lennox.
The city was settled in 1879 and was named after Ben Lennox, private secretary to the general manager of the Milwaukee Railroad.
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.
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.
Grew from 89 people in 1880 to 2,423 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lennox’s Wikipedia page.
Lennox’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Ben Lennox, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lennox post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Lennox is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #20 of 35 in South Dakota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Harney Hospital (listed 1984).
22% of Lennox’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 10% for a South Dakota town; the median home was built in 1977.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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