Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Harris Bridge. Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1880.
Americus Township dates its founding to 1857 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
Americus Township was named for Amerigo Vespucci.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Americus Township is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Americus Township’s 6.9 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Americus Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Americus Township. 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 Americus Township.
Lost a third of its people between 1920 and 1960, then more than doubled.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Americus Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Americus Township.
Americus was laid out in the fall of 1857. It was named for Amerigo Vespucci.
Americus was a station and shipping point on the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltHarris Bridge is builtWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1857, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Americus Township’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 1880 counted 431 people here.
Americus Township is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Harris Bridge (listed 1985).
17% of Americus Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1975.
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).
From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
