Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Delaware Cemetery. Below: old-book passages.
The Reno Township post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Reno (1864) and Fall Leaf (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Reno Township is more historic than 47% 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 Reno Township’s 6.7 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Reno Township’s history is told.
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 Reno Township.
A post office was opened in Reno in 1864, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1918. The community was named for General Jesse L. Reno.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Reno Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
worth-Lawrence branch of the Union Pacific Railway, was named after General Reno. One of the earliest merchants of the place was John Jacobs, who was also the first postmaster there. Another small station which is situated in Reno Township is named Fall Leaf and is located on the main line of the Union Pacific Railway. It was named after an Indian chief who lived there in early days.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Reno Township. — Reno Township was organized on January 4, 1869, with boundaries as follows : To be taken from the territory of Tonganoxie Township to be bounded as follows: Beginning at the southwest corner of section twenty-two, township, eleven, range twenty, and running east on the section line bet-ween sections 22 and 27, 23 and 26, 24 and 25, 19 and 30, 20 and 29, 21 and 28, thence south commencing at the northeast corner of section 28 and running on the section line between sections 28 and ■27, 33 and 34, 4 and 3, 9 and 10, 16 and 15, 21 and 22 to the Kansas River;
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Reno Township post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Reno Township is more historic than 47% 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.
One place: the Delaware Cemetery (listed 2020).
13% of Reno Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.