Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #14 of 151 in Kansas. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 66 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1880.
The Wellington post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wellington is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #14 of 151 in Kansas. 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 Wellington’s 91.9 sits above most of its state (94% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 70 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% 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 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.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wellington.
Wellington was platted in 1871 and named for the Duke of Wellington. It was designated as the Sumner County seat in 1872, winning out over Sumner City according to the Wellington library. Cattle herders coming up the Chisholm Trail helped to build the early town's economy.
The first post office in Wellington was established in July 1871.
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 archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kansas - Sumner County - Wellington - ED 96-42A, …
BuiltH.F. Smith House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveCyclone picture, no. 2
Born herePhil Ferguson is born here
BuiltWellington Carnegie Library is built
BuiltEdwin Smith House is built
In the archiveRailroad station. Wellington, Kansas
In the archiveUntitled photo, possibly related to: Wellington, Kansas. Hired man ploughing a strip of l…4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1939Railroad station. Wellington, Kansas1942Untitled photo, possibly related to: Wellington, Kans…
1943Wellington, Kansas. Passing an oil refinery on the At…
1943Wellington, Kansas. An oil refinery seen through the …
1943Untitled photo, possibly related to: Wellington, Kans…
1943Wellington, Kansas. Engineer B.F. Hale, of the Atchis…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wellington. 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 Wellington.
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 Wellington’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 2,094 and 8,809 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wellington’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Wellington’s post office has been open since 1871.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Wellington post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wellington is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #14 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Wellington Carnegie Library (listed 1987, the first), and 1 historic district, the Downtown Wellington Historic District, with 66 contributing buildings. 70 historic buildings in all.
28% of Wellington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1880