Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Savo Hall-Finnish National Society Hall and the South Dakota Dept. of Transportation Bridge No. 58-140-224. Below: maps from 1896 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 Savo Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Savo Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Savo Township is a township in Brown County, South Dakota, United States. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 71. It is almost entirely populated by Finns, or people of Finnish heritage
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 71 to 21 (-70%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Savo 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 Savo Township.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Two places: the Savo Hall-Finnish National Society Hall (listed 1985) and the South Dakota Dept. of Transportation Bridge No. 58-140-224 (1993).
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 Wikidata (1), 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.
