Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Wea Township was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: old-book passages.
The Wea Township post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Wea (1867), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wea Township is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Wea Township’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 Wea Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wea Township.
This community was named for the Wea Tribe that was part of the Illiniwek Confederacy that came to this reservation land in 1832 along with the Piankishaw, Peoria, and Kaskaskia Tribes.
The Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 brought squatters who forced land cessions upon these four tribes until they removed to Indian Territory in 1867.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Wea Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
then a yoke of oxen and wagon. With these they wended their wav through the prairies to inspect what later become their fine country home, and from which sprang up the Catholic settlement that was named Wea after the Wea tribe of Indians, and is also located in Wea Township. At the time Mr. Vohs and Mr. Schwartz located here, there were only two other families in this part of the county.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Wea Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Wea, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Wea Township post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wea Township is more historic than 26% 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.
10% of Wea Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 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.
