Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Quinn Methodist Church. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1930.
The Quinn post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Furnas (1905), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
The town was named for Michael Quinn, a local rancher.
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 Quinn’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Quinn.
Quinn was laid out in 1907. The town was named for Michael Quinn, a local rancher. A post office called Quinn has been in operation since 1907. Quinn Methodist Church is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 214 in 1950; 63 people lived here in 2020.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Quinn’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveThis very small orator was photographed while talking for the Red Cross at Quinn, S.D
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2021Farmers and Ranchers (20210720-NRCS-LSC-0080)
2021Farmers and Ranchers (20210720-NRCS-LSC-0068)
2021Farmers and Ranchers (20210720-NRCS-LSC-0051)
2021Farmers and Ranchers (20210720-NRCS-LSC-0040)
2021Farmers and Ranchers (20210720-NRCS-LSC-0039)
2021Farmers and Ranchers (20210720-NRCS-LSC-0002)
2021Conservation Cover (CP327) at Kjerstad Habitat in Qui…
2021Conservation Cover (CP327) at Kjerstad Habitat in Qui…
2021BadlandsObservatory front
2017CommunityCenterQuinnSD
2004SDMap-doton-QuinnEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Quinn. 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 Quinn.
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 Quinn’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.
Quinn’s post office has been open since 1907. Another post office, Furnas, 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 Quinn post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Quinn Methodist Church (listed 2007).
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 (11), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
