Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #33 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Pioneer Adobe House, the William F. and Ida G. Schaeffler House and the 1927 Hillsboro Water Tower. Its Register listings are the Pioneer Adobe House, the William F. and Ida G. Schaeffler House and the 1927 Hillsboro Water Tower. Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1880.
The Hillsboro post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Risley (1873), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hillsboro is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #33 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 Hillsboro’s 14.8 sits above most of its state (72% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 Hillsboro’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hillsboro. 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 Hillsboro.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hillsboro.
Hillsboro was named after John Gillespie Hill, who homesteaded in the area in 1871. Originally Hill City was the city name; since another city in Kansas already bore that name, it was changed to Hillsboro on June 20, 1879. A post office was established in Risley on April 10, 1873, then moved to Hillsboro on August 29, 1879.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFire 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.
1912Sheet 2 of 2Sanborn 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.
Between 133 and 2,993 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hillsboro’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Hillsboro’s post office has been open since 1879. Another post office, Risley, 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.
The Hillsboro post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Hillsboro is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #33 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 Pioneer Adobe House (listed 1973), the William F. and Ida G. Schaeffler House (2002) and the 1927 Hillsboro Water Tower (2011).
32% of Hillsboro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (8), Wikidata (3), 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 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.
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