Resources for Viewing the History of any Town

Please message me if you have more links

Search Tool

Web Resources

  • Historical GIS Maps - https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/
  • Historical Aerial Photos - https://vintageaerial.com
  • Historical Statistics and Forum - https://city-data.com
  • Local Plane Crashes - https://planecrashmap.com/map/
  • Temperature Data - https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/

Other Resources

  • Google Earth Pro Satellite History
  • Google Street View (Recent/Non-Historical)
  • Google Crisis Map (Defunct)

Other notable sources

  • Wikipedia
  • US Census (May be affected as of 2025, /r/datahoarder can help)
  • USGS Water Data
  • ChatGPT/Google Bard
  • Facebook Groups
  • Local GIS Websites
  • Regrid
  • Local libraries, historical societies, old houses etc

Tips/Notes

Ask local people about local history! Don’t let it get forgotten.

Roadways

Look at all sorts of old gravel roads, logging roads, etc on maps or topoview. Each road has it’s own story to tell! Many of these roads remain untouched in rural areas. Remember that towns still have history hiding in them, you’ll just have to look a little bit. Also, many roads were very different 100 years ago, especially at creek crossings. Our tax dollars have gone a long way!

When building the interstate system, all sorts of small concrete tunnels were built to let wildlife and water flow through!

Artifacts

Look for local historical things like fossils, arrowheads, etc that could be hiding in the ground. There may be tribes or animals that were on your land at one point that are no longer there. It’s cool to see something someone made 100s of years ago though isn’t it?

Whitewashing

A lot of southern towns have swept up their history about slavery and don’t talk about it in schools. Some local farms you pass by may have had slaves in them 100 years ago.

Naming

Pay attention to any roads, creeks, hills, towns, that are named especially ones that people don’t talk about, there could be underlying history about these names and you don’t even know about it!

Closed Businesses

Notice that many old factories in the US closed between 2000-2009 due to foreign competition, prices, outdated equipment, the recession and outdated manufacturing techniques.

Other notes

Some roads and towns were build along railroads and wagon trails from many years ago, and they usually follow ideal, well traveled, or paths through valleys.

ATT Long Lines is a cool thing to look into.

Ways to show population density

  • Terrain maps
  • Power grid maps
  • Light pollution maps
  • Satellite maps
  • Power plant maps