Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Wakarusa Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Its Register listing is the Upper Wakarusa River Crossing. Below: maps from 1950 on.
The Wakarusa Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Douglas (1855), Franklin (1855) and Wakarusa (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Wakarusa Township was named for the Wakarusa River which flows through Douglas County from Wabaunsee County to the Kansas River near Eudora.
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wakarusa Township is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold 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 Wakarusa Township’s 4.3 sits near the middle of its state (44% 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.
Six 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wakarusa Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wakarusa Township.
It was named for the Wakarusa River which flows through Douglas County from Wabaunsee County to the Kansas River near Eudora.
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.
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 Wakarusa 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 Wakarusa Township.
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 Wakarusa Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wakarusa Township is more historic than 38% 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 Upper Wakarusa River Crossing (listed 2014).
9% of Wakarusa Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.6 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1980.
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, 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.
