Towns and counties are broad areas of land defined by acts of the
legislature. They have specific functions which have shifted over the
years. Every part of the state is in a county. Every part of the state
excepting cities are also in towns. Cities take over all functions of
towns. Villages do not; they only take over some town functions.
   Villages and cities are optional. They exist only where a group of
people who live so close together they decide they want to offer an
additional level of government to provide extra services such as
municpal water, sewer or police. I do not think there is much basic
difference between them excepting the obvious one, size, and the fact
that cities usually or always provide school service as part of city
government while generally villages do not. In villages, schools are
provided by an independent school district of some sort. Size is (or
was) not a mandatory criteria. I believe that the smallest city in the
state is Sherrill, about 2,000 people and smaller than many villages.
   There are some other fine differences between cities and villages,
toom but either can overlap a county line. A village can overlap into
two or more towns.
   Cities and villages differ from hamlets, which are unincorporated
groups of homes with no defined boundaries and no government. (In
incorporation, the boundary of the city or village is defined by survey,
so one can determine who is eligible to vote in the city or village
election.)
   As to the historically changing functions of towns and counties:
Counties originally did little but provide courts of record and
court-related functions such as sheriffs and coroners. Towns provided
public health, welfare, road and most other functions. Particularly
since the Great Depression, many town functions have been taken over by
counties. Town health officers and "service" (welfare) officers are
virtually obsolete and major roads have been taken over by the county
highway departments leaving many town highway departments to maintain a
but few gravel roads. In the 1970s the state took over the courts of
record. -- Lester.