Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the New Elmspring Colony. Most of Springdale Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: maps from 1897 on.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Springdale Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Springdale Township’s 72.6 sits above most of its state (86% of South Dakota towns have fewer) while its 13 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Springdale Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Springdale 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 Springdale Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Springdale 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 2,108 to 2,160 (+2%).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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.
Another post office, Shindler, 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.
Springdale Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. 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 New Elmspring Colony (listed 1982).
4% of Springdale Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 10% for a South Dakota town; the median home was built in 1998.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
