Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1920.
The Alba post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Alba’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Alba. 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 Alba.
From Wikipedia’s history of Alba.
Alba was platted in 1882. The first postmaster of the settlement gave the community his last name. A post office called Alba has been in operation since 1860.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Alba, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Alba. — The town of Alba is situated on the following: described tract of land: beginning at the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 16, township 29, range 32, west of the fifth principal meridian, Jasper county. Mo., thence south 659 feet, •thence west 659 feet six inches, thence north 659 feet, thence east 334 feet, thence north 498 feet, thence west 54 feet, thence north 165 feet, thence east 375 feet, thence south 663 feet to the place of beginning, and is divided into streets, lots, and alleys, of the width, length, and location shown by the plat. Surveyed
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Alba situated on Spring River four miles northeast of Orongo was a Quaker settlement and at first distinctively a farming community. A more extended mention of Carl Junction and Alba will be made in our later chapters, when these places came into greater prominence.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Alba, Sarcoxie and Elsewhere Alba, which until the nineties had been only a country town, also came into great prominence just at the close of the decade, on account of the rich mines which were opened up.
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.
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 Survey
Born hereCloyd Boyer is born hereWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 318 and 588 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Alba’s Wikipedia page.
The Alba post office opened in 1860, 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 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 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.
