Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Ethan James Scherrer · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #10 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
16 places in town are on the National Register, among them the William Allen White House, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 115 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1860.
The Emporia post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Columbia (1857), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Emporia is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #10 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 Emporia’s 55.9 sits above most of its state (92% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 135 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% 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. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Emporia’s post office has been open since 1857. Another post office, Columbia, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Emporia.
Located on upland prairie, Emporia was founded in 1857, drawing its name from ancient Carthage, a place known in history as a prosperous center of commerce.
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.
BuiltRichard Howe House is built
In the archiveC.H. Price's west view
Born hereWilliam Allen White is born hereBuiltWilliam Allen White House is built
BuiltHarris-Borman House is built
In the archiveNew Santa Fe Hotel, Emporia, Kan
In the archiveStandard atlas of Lyon County, Kansas - including a plat book of the villages, cities and…
In the archiveLibrary - K.S.N. [Kansas State Normal School] Emporia, KanBuiltGranada Theater is built
Born hereDean Smith is born here
Born hereR. Lee Ermey is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Emporia. 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 Emporia.
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.
1884Sheet 1 of 7Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Emporia’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 843 and 26,760 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Emporia’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Emporia post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Emporia is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #10 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.
16 listings: 15 buildings, among them the William Allen White House (a National Historic Landmark since 1976), and 1 historic district, the Emporia Downtown Historic District, with 115 contributing buildings. 135 historic buildings in all.
28% of Emporia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (16), 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.
c. 1868
1909
1909
1911![Science Hall - K.S.N. [Kansas State Normal School] - Emporia, Kan](https://images.townratings.com/story/6592/9ab33a9f6c94857cbc61-s.jpg)
1911