Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the St. Augustine Church. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 2000.
The New Diggings post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Etna (1857) and Leadmine (1883), 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 New Diggings’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Diggings. 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 New Diggings.
New Diggings had its own post office from 1844 to 1953. Two other post offices 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of New Diggings yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1844. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 502 to 486 (-3%).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltSt. Augustine Church is built
Born hereThomas J. B. Robinson is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePenna Benton MineOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 New Diggings’ page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 473 and 502 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Diggings’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The New Diggings post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the St. Augustine Church (listed 1972).
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 the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.
Date?