Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1920.
The Kiowa post office opened in 1868, 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 Kiowa’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Kiowa.
The town was named for the Kiowa people. Settled in 1859, it was originally named "Wendling" after an early settler. It was called "Middle Kiowa" from the 1860s until 1912, when it was incorporated and the word "Middle" was dropped. It became the county seat of Elbert County in 1874. Kiowa suffered from major flooding in 1935.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kiowa.
1970Kiowa sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Kiowa.
Grew from 148 people in 1920 to 725 in 2020, 4 times over.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Kiowa’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Kiowa itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Kiowa’s post office has been open since 1868.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Kiowa post office opened in 1868, 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.
2021
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2012