Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
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, Smoky Hill Township is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #32 of 151 in Kansas. Its National Register listings hold 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 Smoky Hill Township’s 31.1 sits above most of its state (87% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 28 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Smoky Hill Township’s history is told.
Four 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).
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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Smoky Hill Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Smoky Hill Township is a township in Geary County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 9,143.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 6,531 to 9,143 (+40%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltFirst Territorial Capitol is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Smoky Hill Township. 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 Smoky Hill Township.
Nobody well known was born in Smoky Hill Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Smoky Hill Township is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #32 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.
Two places: the First Territorial Capitol (listed 1970) and the Main Post Area, Fort Riley (1974).
10% of Smoky Hill Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 2008.
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 (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
