Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #72 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 18 buildings between them. Most of Garden City was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1890.
The Garden City post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Garden City is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #72 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 Garden City’s 9.3 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 26 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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 Garden City’s history is told.
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.
1887Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Garden City.
In February 1878, James R. Fulton, William D. Fulton and W.D.'s son, L.W. Fulton, arrived at the present site of Garden City.
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.
BuiltWindsor Hotel is built
In the archiveFrancis Marion Steele Garden City Zuckerfabrik und ZugBuiltHope House is builtBuiltSabine Hall is builtBuiltSen. William H. Thompson House is built
Born hereRoy Romer is born here
Born hereChuck Reed is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereVictor Ortiz is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Garden City. 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 Garden City.
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 Garden City’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,490 and 28,451 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Garden City’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Garden City’s post office has been open since 1878.
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 Garden City post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Garden City is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #72 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.
10 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Windsor Hotel (listed 1972, the first), and 3 historic districts, the 900 Block North Seventh Street Historic District, the Bungalow Historic District and the J.H. Stevens-C.L. Thompson Block Historic District, with 18 contributing buildings. 26 historic buildings in all.
10% of Garden City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (2), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (10), 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.
1909
