Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1967 on and the census since 1880.
The Valley Springs post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Valley Springs’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Valley Springs.
Valley Springs was founded on November 13, 1872, and incorporated on February 22, 1879. The city was named from nearby springs in the valley of Beaver Creek.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Valley Springs, cut from the printed page as they were published.
tion of muncipal bodies were more to their liking-, the villag-e board on the 4th day of March, 1895, took the necessary steps and dissolved the corporation of the villag-e, and reincorporated under the g'eneral law as the Town of Valley Springs. There is not a village in the state that has a better grade of schools, and a higher percentage of church-going people. It has three church organizations, but no saloon, three resident ministers, but no lawyer. Its business men are thrifty and enterprising, and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
pan\ to be known as the Sioux Palls Railroad Company," havingfor its object the building'- of a railroad, with one of its termini at Yankton and the other at a point on the eastern boundary of Dakota in the town of Valley Springs. M. Grig-sby was appointed to draft the articles of incorporation, and on November 10, the org'anization was perfected. The companv consisted of M. Grig-sbv, E. A. Sherman, R. P. Pettig-rew, A. P. Shaw, Joseph Roberts, M. L. Wood and J. D.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Valley Springs. 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 Valley Springs.
Grew from 96 people in 1880 to 885 in 2020, 9 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Valley Springs’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Valley Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Valley Springs post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
