Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Brule-St. Croix Portage. Most of Solon Springs was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1930.
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 Solon Springs’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Solon Springs.
Solon Springs was first called White Birch, from a grove of white birch trees near the original town site. The present name of Solon Springs honors Thomas F. Solon, who discovered mineral springs here. A post office was established as White Birch in 1885, and the name of the post office was changed to Solon Springs in 1896.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 Solon 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 Solon Springs.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 282 people in 1930 to 656 in 2020.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Solon Springs’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Solon Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
One place: the Brule-St. Croix Portage (listed 1970).
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 National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
