Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Palmersville was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1966. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1956 on.
The Palmersville post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Palmerville (1847), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Palmersville’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Palmersville.
Palmersville was one of the first settlements in Weakley County. It is named for one of its founders, W. R. Palmer. Minida College was built in Palmersville during the late 1800s. In 1924, the town was devastated by a fire which destroyed all but four buildings leaving only the local bank, the blacksmith shop, and two stores unscathed.
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.
Born hereNed McWherter is born here
In the archiveCooperative cheese factory
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Palmersville. 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 Palmersville.
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 Palmersville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Palmersville’s post office has been open since 1874. Another post office, Palmerville, 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).
The Palmersville post office opened in 1874, 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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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