Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: shannonpatrick17 · CC BY 2.0More historic than 79% of U.S. towns · #21 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
The Marysville post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1855.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marysville is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #21 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 Marysville’s 46.8 sits above most of its state (90% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 16 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% 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 Marysville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Marysville. 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 Marysville.
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 1 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 Marysville.
Marysville was laid out in 1855 by Francis J. Marshall, and designated in that same year the county seat. It was incorporated as a city in 1861.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Marysville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Her ambition was that her three daughters might be useful citizens and they are trying to obey, as Ora Adelia is now one of the progressive and successful business women of Marysville, and the efficient bookkeeper, stenographer and collector for the Marysville Telephone Exchange Company, as she attended Campbell University at Holton and then in 1892 took a post-graduate course at Campbell, preparing herself to work as stenographer and bookkeeper. She has purchased a comfortable home just east of the Catholic church grounds (one block therein), within the city of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Marysville furnished twenty-seven men to this company, the remainder coming from various points in the county. This company was stationed at Marysville until September 8, 1862, when Captain Hutchinson received orders to transport his men to Ft. Scott.
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 archive1862 Big Blue Union December 27
BuiltCharles Koester House is built
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kansas - Marshall County - Marysville - ED 59-18,…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltMarshall County Courthouse is built
In the archiveKANSAS-A-0010- Marysville Dam
Born hereMoondog is born here
BuiltMarysville Union Pacific Depot is built
Born hereMichael McClure is born here
Born hereKenneth W. Dam is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s 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 Marysville’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 171 and 4,143 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marysville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Marysville’s post office has been open since 1854.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Marysville post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1855.
Marysville is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #21 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.
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Marysville Pony Express Barn (listed 1973, the first), and 1 historic district, the Koester Block Historic District, with 5 contributing buildings. 16 historic buildings in all.
27% of Marysville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
1880