Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #15 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 56 buildings. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.
The Clay Center post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name.
Clay Center was named from its position near the geographical center of Clay County.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clay Center is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #15 of 151 in Kansas. Its National Register listings hold 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 Clay Center’s 140 sits above most of its state (96% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 58 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Clay Center.
Clay Center was first settled in 1862. It was named from its position near the geographical center of Clay County.
The first post office was established in Clay Center on July 3, 1862.
Clay Center was located on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads.
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.
Born hereTenney Frank is born here
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kansas - Clay County - Clay Center - ED 14-6, ED …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereGeorge Docking is born here
In the archiveClay Center, KS - Nov. 5, 1907
In the archiveKansas - Clay Centers
Born hereAlwyn Howard Gentry is born here
In the archiveClay County Courthouse4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clay Center. 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 Clay Center.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Clay Center’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,753 and 4,963 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clay Center’s Wikipedia page.
Clay Center’s post office has been open since 1862.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Clay Center post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Clay Center is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #15 of 151 in Kansas. 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.
Three places: the Clay County Courthouse (listed 1973), the Clay Center Carnegie Library (1987) and the Clay Center Downtown Historic District (2020).
27% of Clay Center’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.7 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 Wikimedia Commons (9), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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 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.
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