Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the First State Bank. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1880.
The Edna post office opened in 1878, 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 Edna’s history is told.
Peaked at 537 in 1980; 388 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edna’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Edna.
The first store in Edna opened in 1876. The first post office in Edna was established in April 1878. The town of Edna was platted in the summer of 1886 when the railroad was extended to that point.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Edna, cut from the printed page as they were published.
shanty 11 by 14 feet, belonging to Jeptha Lackey, on the northeast one-fourth of section 30, in Elm Grove township. This was the first start of the town of Edna. That same fall this firm brought from the town of Chanute the material of a frame building which they had torn down, and with it they put up at Edna, on the same quarter, the first store build-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
on his farm in every respect. In order to give more attention to his stock business, he rented his farm in October, 1900, and moved to the town of Edna. He also owns 160 acres of land east of Edna, which he devoted to pasturing purposes.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edna. 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 Edna.
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.
1905Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Edna itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Edna post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the First State Bank (listed 1982).
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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