Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #26 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Anderson County Courthouse, the Sennett and Bertha Kirk House and the Shelley-Tipton House. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
Garnett dates its founding to 1857 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Garnett is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #26 of 151 in Kansas. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Garnett’s 15.6 sits above most of its state (73% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Garnett’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Garnett. 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 Garnett.
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 2 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Garnett.
Garnett was platted in 1857. Garnett is named for W. A. Garnett, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and early promoter of the town of Garnett.
The city includes three places listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Anderson County Courthouse, Sennett and Bertha Kirk House, and Shelley-Tipton House.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Garnett, cut from the printed page as they were published.
On the first day of August Robert B. Hall, as president ; Geo. A. Dunn, G. W. Cooper and Theodore Harris, as associates, filed a plat of the town of Garnett in the office of the probate court of the county, with a petition setting forth that the town of Garnett was regularly laid out and surveyed on or about the loth day of May, A. D. 1857, covering the south half of section 30, township 20, range 20.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
within one hundred and sixty rods of the public sqitare in the town of (rarnett : and further, that said railroad eoml)any shall have their road built and in operation to the town of Garnett on or before the tirst day of January, 1870. " Said stock not to be subscribed to either of said railroad companies or the bonds to issue in payment therefor until the company has constructed its road as aforesaid, and in the time specitied herein : the bonds to be issued in
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereArthur Capper is born here
Born hereEdgar Lee Masters is born here
In the archive1884 Garnett, Kansas tornado (Cropped)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveGarnett, Kansas (circa 1900-1919)
BuiltAnderson County Courthouse is built
BuiltSennett and Bertha Kirk House is built
Born hereSam Brownback is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Garnett’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 1,219 and 3,415 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Garnett’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Garnett’s post office has been open since 1859. Another post office, Shannon, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1857, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Garnett’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1870 counted 1,219 people here.
Garnett is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #26 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.
Three places: the Anderson County Courthouse (listed 1972), the Sennett and Bertha Kirk House (2005) and the Shelley-Tipton House (1982).
35% of Garnett’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.5 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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