Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1856.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Paola’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Paola is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #29 of 151 in Kansas. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Paola’s overall grade.
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 Paola’s 13.9 sits above most of its state (71% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.4 points). Two sources give 1855.
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 →
What stands out about Paola’s past
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.
Native Americans, then Spanish explorers such as Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541, and French missionary explorers in 1673 lived and traveled throughout the area of what is now Paola. Despite these early European incursions at the start of the 19th century, the area was largely controlled by the Osage people.
Settlement of the area primarily occurred, however, when Kaskaskia, Peoria, Wea, and Piankeshaw tribes were forced to move to the area between 1827 and 1832. These formed the Confederated Allied Tribe, which was led by Baptiste Peoria, who was of both French and Indian ethnicity. They called their settlement Peoria Village.
Passages that mention Paola, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A centenary of Catholicity in Kansas, 1822-19221921Read the page →
Read the text
Cunningham was a potential factor. He helped to rear the first school house, to build the first bridge and hauled part of the stone to erect the first little Catholic Church in the city of Paola, upon a plat of ground given by Mother Baptiste. In the war he helped to guard the border and, through it all he was a cheerful. MICHAEL CT'NNINGHAM, Last of Old Settlers.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A centenary of Catholicity in Kansas, 1822-19221921Read the page →
Read the text
on the east bank of the Marais des Cygnes river, ten miles southeast of Paola, in 1854, when the territory was organized, were grouped a dozen log houses. The Osage River Agency proper was located on the hill immediately north and adjoining the town site of Paola and around it were grouped some big houses. An Indian Chapel existed at the Peoria Village (Paola) in 1846 and was dedicated to God under the patronage of St. Francis Xavier; its location is supposed to have been at or near the famous old spring in the northwest part of the town.
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.
Timeline
Paola, 1855 to 1957
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1855, according to Wikidata. Paola’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1870 counted 1,811 people here.
How does Paola rank for history?
Paola is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #29 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.
What is on the National Register in Paola?
6 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Miami County Courthouse (listed 1973, the first). 8 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Paola?
33% of Paola’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.4 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (6), 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.
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