Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #55 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 55 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
Junction City dates its founding to 1854 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Junction City is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #55 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 Junction City’s 27.3 sits above most of its state (85% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 61 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% 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.
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.
Junction City’s post office has been open since 1858.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Junction City.
Junction City is so named from its position at the confluence of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers, which forms the Kansas River.
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.
BuiltChristian Wetzel Cabin is built
In the archiveNo. 25. Junction of the Kansas Pacific and Junction City and Fort Kearney RailwaysBuiltBartell House is built
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kansas - Geary County - Junction - ED 31-5, ED 31…
Born hereAdna R. Chaffee Jr. is born hereBuiltGrand Army of the Republic (GAR) Memorial Arch is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMarillyn Hewson is born here
Born hereBobby Lashley is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Junction 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 Junction 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 Junction City’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 217 and 23,353 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Junction City’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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 1854, according to Wikidata. Junction City’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1860 counted 217 people here.
Junction City is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #55 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.
8 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Christian Wetzel Cabin (listed 1973, the first), 1 historic district, the Junction City Downtown Historic District, with 55 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 61 historic buildings in all.
13% of Junction City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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.
1880
1880
1880
