Its Register listings are the Cimarron Hotel, the Gray County Courthouse (Old) and the Cimarron City Jail. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1900.
Founding year: the first Cimarron post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cimarron’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cimarron is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cimarron’s overall grade.
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 Cimarron’s 15.4 sits above most of its state (73% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
What stands out about Cimarron’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Cimarron was first settled in 1878. It took its name from a fork in the Santa Fe Trail which led travelers to the Cimarron River.
Between 1887 and 1893, a county seat war took place in Gray County that involved several notable Old West figures, such as Bat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, and Ben Daniels. As a result of the dispute, Cimarron became the permanent county seat of Gray County.
In the wee hours of June 10, 1893, Bill Doolin and four members of his gang robbed a train one-half mile east of Cimarron.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Cimarron’s history
What year was Cimarron founded?
The Cimarron post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cimarron rank for history?
Cimarron is more historic than 66% 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.
What is on the National Register in Cimarron?
Three places: the Cimarron Hotel (listed 1983), the Gray County Courthouse (Old) (2009) and the Cimarron City Jail (2019).
How old are the homes in Cimarron?
22% of Cimarron’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.4 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1914
1915
