Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1880.
The Leona post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Leona’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Leona. 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 Leona.
Peaked at 171 in 1890; 41 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Leona’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Leona.
Leona was laid out in 1873. The city was named for Leona Shock, the first baby born there.
A post office was opened in Leona in 1873, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1986.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Leona, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Leona is situated in the northwestern part of Doniphan county. It was laid out June 15, 1873, by a stock company of which J. W. Shock was president.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Leona has had several literary societies. She also had a skating rink in the fall of 1884, but the building association found that it was ruining the floor, and it was closed.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Leona itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Leona had its own post office from 1873 to 1986.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Leona post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, 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 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.
