Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #139 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
Most of Park City was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: maps from 1941 on and the census since 1990.
The Park City post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1953. Two smaller post offices, Cosmosa (1870) and Wichita Heights (1888), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Park City is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #139 of 151 in Kansas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Park City’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Park City’s history is told.
Park City had its own post office from 1871 to 1876. Two other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Park City.
The first Park City was founded in 1870. Located 14 miles (23 km) to the northwest of Wichita, at first it was a formidable rival and in the running to be the county seat but lost. When the railroad bypassed it and came to Wichita, the town died, and its houses were moved to Wichita, Newton, and Hutchinson.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Park City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
goodly share of the earth, in their imagination. It is said, but this is not authentic, that the Santa Fe offered to come directly south from Newton to Park City, in return for a portion of the townsite. But the owners of that townsite valued it. It was not to be parted with frivolously, and this offer they refused. Park City's magnetic powers were greater than a corporation's greed, and Park City took her stand of defiance. The railroad would have to come to the town. It could not, indeed, survive without
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the slivered pine bar, the cow-spurs clinked an accompaniment to a long Homeric narration in derogation of the location of Park City. And on the same night a crowd, equally worthy to all eyes save those of Fate, gathered in the dramshop of Park City and mixed anathemas against Wichita with a very ragged and barbed variety of sheep-dip. The verity was that the contention grew from the very lack of argument on either side, for anger flourishes most without any vestige of reason about it. Both Wichita
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Park City. 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 Park City.
Between 5,050 and 8,333 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Park City’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Park City itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Park City post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1953.
Park City is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #139 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.
2% of Park City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (2), 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.
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