Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #16 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 43 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
The Norton post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Billingsville (1872), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Norton is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #16 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 Norton’s 160 sits above most of its state (97% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 43 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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 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.
1893Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
From Wikipedia’s history of Norton.
Norton was founded in 1872. Like the county, it was named for Capt. Orloff Norton.
One of the first recorded tornado pictures was taken in Norton, in 1909, by photographer Will Keller.
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.
In the archiveJurors hanged in effigy
In the archiveNorth hill side
Born hereKeith Sebelius is born here
Born hereBob Randall is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereLori Nix is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Norton. 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 Norton.
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 Norton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 634 and 3,627 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Norton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Norton’s post office has been open since 1872. Another post office, Billingsville, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Norton post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Norton is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #16 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.
One place: the Norton Downtown Historic District (listed 2011).
27% of Norton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1961.
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), the Library of Congress (8), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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