Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Albion was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1910.
Albion dates its founding to 1871 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1910.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
7 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
c. 1889Edward College, Albion, Washington, circa 1889 - DPLA…
c. 1889Students from Edwards College, Albion, Washington, ci…
c. 1890Red brick school, Albion, Washington, circa 1890-1899…
c. 1900Baseball team, Albion, Washington, circa 1900
c. 1900Edwards College, Albion, Washington, circa 1900 - DPL…
c. 1900Guy Miller Company dam and mill pond, Albion, Washing…
1905Albion school and students, Albion, Washington, 1905 …
1909G. M. Howell's harvest crew, Albion, Washington, 1909…Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1902Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Albion.
Albion was first settled in 1871 by Levi Reynolds, and was platted in 1883. The town was known as Guy, until 1901, when a resident insisted to change the town's name to honor Sir Francis Drake, who named the region Nova Albion (New England). Albion was officially incorporated on March 4, 1910.
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.
In the archiveEdward College, Albion, Washington, circa 1889 - DPLA - 3555b34a9216412d266680eed3c6493b …In the archiveRed brick school, Albion, Washington, circa 1890-1899 - DPLA - e31558d73ec399739f2805752d…In the archiveBaseball team, Albion, Washington, circa 1900
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveEdwards College graduating students, Albion, Washington, circa 1913 - DPLA - e616b566fdb1…
In the archiveJohn Kroll, Albion, Washington, circa 1925 - DPLA - 667e273133069f10005c3511a967e5f6
In the archiveFlat houses, Albion, Washington, circa 1935 - DPLA - bd8e7858c7f3f47dad6fa1a1a05cb132Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Albion. 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 Albion.
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 Albion’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 206 and 687 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Albion’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Albion itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Albion’s post office has been open since 1901. Another post office, Guy, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1871, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Albion’s post office opened in 1881, and the census of 1910 counted 276 people here.
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 (12), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
c. 1950