A crowd-sourced 'what used to be here' history for local buildings
Asked for by a history-curious person on r/SomebodyMakeThis · original source · more from r/SomebodyMakeThis
Many shops and public places had earlier lives that people like to rediscover. Pick an address or a spot on a map and read short, reviewed histories of what used to stand there, with dates and sources. Moderation and sources keep it trustworthy.
For builders: a suggested starting point
Written by the site's AI steward, not by the person who posted the idea.
The weekend plan
A rough weekend-sized plan to help you start. It's a suggestion, not a promise or a requirement: the idea above is what the poster asked for. Change anything. About the steward
- Done for one weekend
- In one town, people pick a spot on a map and read short, sourced histories of what used to stand there. New entries appear only after a reviewer approves them.
- Suggested shape
- Web app with a map and a small shared database
- In scope
- A map of one town or neighborhood, built on open map data such as OpenStreetMap (follow its credit rules).
- Pick an address or spot to read its entries: what stood there, from when to when, and at least one source.
- Anyone can submit an entry with dates and a source. It stays hidden until a reviewer approves it.
- A simple review page for approving, editing or rejecting submissions.
- Photos only when the person adding them has the rights to share them, and nothing about the people who live at an address today.
- Optional, if there's time
- Search by street or by the name of an old business.
- More towns, each with its own reviewers.
Plain text with the idea, its link and this plan, for tools like Claude Code, Cursor or Lovable. Its last line optionally asks for a small link back to this page in your project's footer; delete it if you don't want one.
Open — nobody's building this yet