Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #101 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Affton was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1958. Its Register listings are the Louis Auguste Benoist House, the New Mount Sinai Cemetery and the Affton High School. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1933 on, and the census since 1970.
The Affton post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Affton is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #101 of 247 in Missouri. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Affton’s 21.5 sits above most of its state (82% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 41 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Affton.
Affton is named for the first Postmaster for the area, Johann Aff.
Early landowners included fur trader and liquor importer Kenneth McKenzie and Louis Auguste Benoist.
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 archiveAugust Busch's county home "Bauernhof" on Gravois Road. Built 1913. Today part of Grant's…
In the archiveBauernhof entrance arch
BuiltAffton High School is built
In the archiveOakland, 7801 Genesta Street, Affton, St. Louis County, MO
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Affton. 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 Affton.
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 Affton’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 20,307 and 24,464 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Affton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Affton had its own post office from 1876 to 1939.
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 Affton post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Affton is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #101 of 247 in Missouri. 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.
Three places: the Louis Auguste Benoist House (listed 1969), the New Mount Sinai Cemetery (2005) and the Affton High School (2010).
9% of Affton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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) 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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