Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.
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 Fennimore’s history is told.
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.
1894Sheet 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 Fennimore.
Fennimore was named for a settler who disappeared during the Black Hawk War. It was previously also known as Fennimore Center. Fennimore incorporated as a village in 1889 and changed to a city in 1919.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Fennimore, cut from the printed page as they were published.
This town was organized in 1856, being at first included in the town of Fennimore. As the old settlers have generally died or been replaced by foreigners, but little can be said of its early settlement. Among the old settlers were Joseph Guernsey, Henry Morgan, L. B.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveInterior of St. Mary's Church
Born hereJack K. Farris is born here
In the archiveWhere to go from Fennimore, Wisconsin
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fennimore. 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 Fennimore.
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 Fennimore’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 295 people in 1880 to 2,764 in 2020, 9 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fennimore’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Another post office, Preston, 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.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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