Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #93 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
Most of Edwardsville was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listing is the Roy Williamson House. Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1880.
The Edwardsville post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name.
Edwardsville was named for John H. Edwards, a general passenger agent for the Union Pacific Railroad, who later served as a justice of the peace and state senator from Ellis County, Kansas.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edwardsville is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #93 of 151 in Kansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Edwardsville’s 2.1 sits near the middle of its state (41% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Edwardsville’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Edwardsville.
Edwardsville was surveyed in 1869 on land formerly belonging to Half Moon, an Indian chief of the Delawares. It was named for John H. Edwards, a general passenger agent for the Union Pacific Railroad, who later served as a justice of the peace and state senator from Ellis County, Kansas.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Edwardsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Edwardsville is a station on the Union Pacific Railroad, located on the southeast quarter of Section 26, in Township 11 south, Range 23 east, in Wyandotte County, being about three miles south and eleven miles west of the mouth of the Kansas River. It was named for Hon. John H. Edwards, then general passenger and ticket agent of the road, since then a State Senator from Ellis County, Kas. The land where this rural village now stands was once the farm of Half-Moon, a chief of some degree among the Delawares. He sold
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A busy little town aloiiji the line of the Union Pacific railway eleven miles, west of the mouth of Kansas river is Edwardsville. It was a station on the Union Pacific Railroad, in the sixties, and was named for Hon. John H. Edwards, who was then general passenger and ticket agent for that railroad and served as a state senator from Ellis county, Kansas. The land where this town now stands was once the farm of Half-Moon, a chief of some degree among the Delawares. He sold the land to General T. Smith, of Leavenworth and others, who in turn
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Edwardsville Cemetery, containing three acres, was laid out in 1879. Ivy Walk runs through the center from the entrance, and Dak Avenue is a circular street through the grounds, departing from and returning to the entrance. There are numerous other walks, and the grounds contain 342 burial lots.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
above described ' ' be and is hereby organized into a township to be known and designated by the name of Delaware township, and that the first election for town officers in said Delaware township be held at the Peter Barnett store-room, in Edwardsville, so called, on the first Tuesday in April, 1869. It is further ordered by the board, that J. J. Keplinger, the county clerk of the county, make out a plat of said Delaware township and place the same on sale in his office, and that he deliver to the proper township officers a certified copy of said plat and record. It
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.
2019UP 1989 Leads EB Autorack - Intermodal Edwardsville, …
2019UP 1989 Leads EB Autorack - Intermodal Edwardsville, …
2018UP 1982 (Missouri Pacific) 3-1-18
2017UP 8846 Leads EB Coal Drag Edwardsville, KS 7-15-17
2017UP 6441 Leads EB Coal Drag Edwardsville, KS 3-25-17
2017UP 1995 Leads WB Intermodal Edwardsville, KS 8-19-17
2017UP 1995 (Chicago & Northwestern)
2016Union Pacific 1989 Denver and Rio Grande Western - Ma…
2005KSMap-doton-EdwardsvilleEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edwardsville. 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 Edwardsville.
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.
Grew from 106 people in 1880 to 4,717 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edwardsville’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Edwardsville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Edwardsville’s post office has been open since 1867.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Edwardsville post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Edwardsville is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #93 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.
One place: the Roy Williamson House (listed 2007).
6% of Edwardsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 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).
From Wikimedia Commons (9), Wikidata (1), 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 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.
