More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #63 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Shawnee Mission, a National Historic Landmark. Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1950.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fairway is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #63 of 151 in Kansas. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fairway’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 Fairway’s 7.2 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.1 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Fairway’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
For millennia, the Great Plains of North America were inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. In the 1820s, the federal government reserved this area for use by the Shawnee people, who had ceded their lands east of the Mississippi River to the United States. In 1839, Methodists established the Shawnee Methodist Mission here to operate a school for the Shawnee and try to convert them to Christianity. Later it was named the Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School and also accepted Native American boarding students, then closed in 1862. The site is now owned by the Kansas Historical Society, designated as a National Historic Landmark, and is operated by the city of Fairway as a museum.
Fairway is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #63 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.
What is on the National Register in Fairway?
One place: the Shawnee Mission (listed 1966).
How old are the homes in Fairway?
11% of Fairway’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 1950.
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 (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
2004
