Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #3 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
14 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 96 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
Independence dates its founding to 1869 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1870.
Independence was named in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Independence is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #3 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 Independence’s 128 sits above most of its state (96% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 108 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Independence. 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 Independence.
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.
1885Sheet 2 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Independence.
The Osage Indians had settled much of southeast Kansas over the course of the 1830s and 40s and sold land claims over the course of the 1860s to incoming American homesteaders and moved into Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) where they became settled farmers, selling their whole remaining claim to the United States government in 1870 for $1.25 an acre.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Independence, cut from the printed page as they were published.
you," the man would say, "I was there, I saw it, and I saw the old gray-headed priest of Independence performing the ceremony." Father Donnelly was the priest of Independence and he was grayheaded, but he knew there must be a mistake for he had not performed that ceremony, he had not been at Independence for nearly six weeks. He could no longer restrain himself, and in loud tones
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A few left the boats at Shelby Landing, near Independence. Independence is the county seat of Jackson County, which was made a county of the State of Missouri in 1827. The seal of the City of Independence harks back to those days. The design shows four mules attached to the covered wagon or
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the winter of 1870, he founded, with others, the South Kansas Tribune, and, in February following, brought the plant to Kansas and established it in the new town of Independence, in Montgomery county. L. U. Humphrey, afterward governor of Kansas, was associated with the new paper, on its editorial staff. The proprietorship of the "Tribune" came, later, into the hands of W. T. and Chas. Y'oe, where, with a single exception, it has since remained.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
until September of 18(55. Upon returning from the war, he settled in Bureau county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming until 1874, the date of his settlement in Montgomery county, Kansas. He purchased a quarter section seven miles southwest of Independence, for which he paid.fl, 100.00. He cultivated this property for some years, then sold it and removed to the town of Independence and for a number of years, was "outside man" for the implement firm of Funk & Whitman, in 1886. he returned to Illinois where he spent five years, after which he moved to
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.
In the archiveIndependence, Kansas
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltUnion Implement and Hardware Building-Masonic Temple is built
In the archiveBurning well at
Born hereHelen Foster is born hereBuiltIndependence Public Carnegie Library is builtBuiltBooth Hotel is builtBuiltBooth Theater is built
In the archiveProof that Prohibition Prohibits in Kansas, Destroying $6,000.00 worth of liquor in front…
Born hereWilliam Inge is born here
Born hereGerry Bamman is born here
Born hereDerek Schmidt is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. 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 Independence’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 12,782 in 1930; 8,548 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Independence’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Independence’s post office has been open since 1871.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1869, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Independence’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1870 counted 435 people here.
Independence is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #3 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.
14 listings: 13 buildings, among them the Booth Hotel (listed 1983, the first), and 1 historic district, the Independence Downtown Historic District, with 96 contributing buildings. 108 historic buildings in all.
38% of Independence’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (14), 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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