Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Udall was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1962. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1880 on.
The Udall post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name.
Udall was named after English author Cornelius Udall.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Udall.
The first post office at Udall was established in September 1879. J.M. Napier and P.W. Smith purchased a ten-acre tract from I.N Nelson in 1879. Udall was laid out in 1881 by Napier and Smith. It was named after English author Cornelius Udall. D.C. Green built the first house in Udall and opened a store.
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 archiveUdall, Kansas (circa 1880s-1890s)
In the archiveCar wrapped around large tree by tornado2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Udall’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Udall itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Udall post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, 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.
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