Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railway Co. Depot-Weldon. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1910.
The Weldon post office opened in 1881, 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 Weldon’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Weldon.
Weldon got its start in the year 1880, following construction of the Humeston and Shenandoah Railroad through the territory. The Weldon Depot, which operated from 1881 to 1946, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Weldon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In the year 1879, when the Humeston, Shenandoah Railroad was extended westward, the little Village of Weldon sprang up and grew with great rapidity. In the fall of 1880 Emma De Selm taught a subscription school in the I. O. Cr."T. Hall. Tlie next spring the children were sent to a country school located one mile south of town.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
NEWSPAPERS On May 26, 1881, the first newspaper in the Town of Weldon was issued. It was called the Weldon Witness and was edited by
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.
Born hereZales Ecton is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Weldon. 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 Weldon.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 125 and 323 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Weldon’s Wikipedia page.
The Weldon post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railway Co. Depot-Weldon (listed 1991).
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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