Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Moro post office opened in 1856, 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 Moro’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Moro.
The railroad was built through Moro in 1853, contributing to the community's growth. James H. Smith and James Montgomery platted the town on March 7, 1855. The plat was revised on August 23, 1855, when the community was named Moro.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Moro, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Churches and School Houses The township of Moro is well supplied with churches and school houses. The Ridgely Christian church, one of the oldest congrega¬ tions in Madison county, holds services at stated intervals, although far removed in the country ; there was once a Methodist congre¬ gation at Ridgely but the church was finally
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Prairie City Prairie City is a pleasant settlement in sec¬ tion 18, on the line of Moro township, and at the crossing of two main county roads'. The first settler was Maurice Hartnett. It was platted in 1858 by L. L. Dorsey. A Luth¬ eran church was built in 1863 followed by a more pretentious one in 1874, costing $11,000.
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Moro. — The first settler here was Zenas Webster, in section 34, where, in 1820, he built a cabin, on the east side of the “Springfield road.” Thomas Luman and Thomas Wood came soon after, followed in 1831 by Louis D. Palmer, who settled in section 28 with his family, among them the future Gov¬ ernor John M. Palmer.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Moro. — The first settler here was Zenas Webster, in section 34, where, in 1820, he built a cabin, on the east side of the “Springfield road.” Thomas Luman and Thomas Wood came soon after, followed in 1831 by Louis D. Palmer, who settled in section 28 with his family, among them the future Gov¬ ernor John M. Palmer.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Moro post office opened in 1856, 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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people 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.