Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 75% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Union Block, the Newell-Johnson-Searle House and the Methodist Episcopal Church of Oskaloosa. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
The Oskaloosa post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name.
Oskaloosa was named after the city of Oskaloosa, Iowa.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oskaloosa is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Oskaloosa’s 35.9 sits above most of its state (88% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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.
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 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Oskaloosa.
Oskaloosa was founded in 1856. It was named after the city of Oskaloosa, Iowa. The first post office in Oskaloosa was established in November 1856.
In 1888, Oskaloosa citizens elected Mary D. Lowman mayor with a city council composed entirely of women, making the city the first in the state to elect an all-women city administration.
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 archive1860 The Independent November 21
Born hereDummy Taylor is born here
In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kansas (KS) - Jefferson County - Oskaloosa - ED 4…
BuiltUnion Block is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oskaloosa. 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 Oskaloosa.
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 Oskaloosa’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 631 and 1,165 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oskaloosa’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.
The Oskaloosa post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Oskaloosa is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns. 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.
Three places: the Union Block (listed 1973), the Newell-Johnson-Searle House (2017) and the Methodist Episcopal Church of Oskaloosa (2025).
26% of Oskaloosa’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 1969.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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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