Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1858.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Eureka’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Eureka is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Eureka’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 Eureka’s 252 sits above most of its state (99% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 56 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% 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 (±7.9 points). Two sources give 1857.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Eureka’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Eureka. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1885Eureka sheet · 1:125,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Eureka.
Every building
Eureka, building by building, 1884–1917
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.
The first settlement at Eureka was in 1857. The first post office in Eureka was established in August 1858. Eureka was laid out in 1867, and it was incorporated in 1870. The city is named from the Greek expression Eureka, meaning "I have found it".
An EF2 tornado struck Eureka on July 7, 2016, at 9:45 pm. Over 143 total structures, including at least 50 homes, businesses, a nursing home, and grain elevator were damaged. No people were injured.
An EF3 tornado struck Eureka on June 26, 2018, at 7:21 pm (daylight). A total of 175 structures were damaged or destroyed, with 78 homes being damaged (12 uninhabitable and 10 totaled), and eight people injured.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Eureka’s history
What year was Eureka founded?
In 1857, according to Wikidata. Eureka’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1880 counted 1,127 people here.
How does Eureka rank for history?
Eureka is more historic than 85% 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 Eureka?
9 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Eureka Carnegie Library (listed 1988, the first), 1 historic district, the Eureka Downtown Historic District, with 45 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 56 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Eureka?
34% of Eureka’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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.
