Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Wood was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1967 on and old-book passages.
The Wood post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Wood’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wood.
In the summer of 1851 a crew working for the U.S. government surveyed the outline of the six mile square that would become Wood. That November another crew marked all the section corners, walking through the woods and wading the swamps, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Wood, cut from the printed page as they were published.
side over the shop meetings, where all business pertaining to that particular shop may be transacted. For the purpose of illustrating the working of the system, the rules and regulations adopted by the Amalgamated Wood Workers' Council of Chicago, and in force in Cook County, may be taken as typical cf the system developed by the Amalgamated Wood Workers' Union. These rules are formulated by the Wood Workers' Council, and then submitted to the general council for approval
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It has been the policy of the Amalgamated "Wood "Workers' Union to use the strike, only as a last resort, aand to declare in favor of arbitration in the settlement of labor disputes. But when attempts at arbitration have failed, the Wood Workers have followed what is now generally recognized as a legal right, namely, to strike. The character of a union is very well indicated by its regulations for ordering and managing a strike. In fact, the strength of an organization and its effectiveness as a
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Wood. 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 Wood.
Wood had its own post office from 1863 to 1875.
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.
The Wood post office opened in 1863, 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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
