Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Concordia Log Cabin College. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1925 on, and the census since 1870.
Altenburg dates its founding to 1870 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
Altenburg was named after the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg from where many of its settlers came, and not the city of Altenburg which does not seem to have sent a single colonist.
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 Altenburg’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Altenburg. 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 Altenburg.
From Wikipedia’s history of Altenburg.
Altenburg (German for "Old Castle") was laid out and platted in 1839 by a colony of Lutherans. It was named after the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg from where many of its settlers came, and not the city of Altenburg which does not seem to have sent a single colonist.
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 Survey
2013Trinity Lutheran Church Saxon museum
2013Trinity Lutheran Church
2013Saxon Immigration Altenburg Museum
2013Concordia Lutheran College Cabin
2013Concordia Lutheran College Cabin Museum sign
2013Concordia Lutheran College Cabin Museum sign Altenbur…
2013Concordia College Museum
2013Altenburg, Missouri outskirts
2013Altenburg, Missouri 48 Public School DistrictNo 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 Altenburg’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 183 and 352 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Altenburg’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Altenburg itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1870, according to Wikidata. Altenburg’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1870 counted 200 people here.
One place: the Concordia Log Cabin College (listed 1978).
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 Wikimedia Commons (9), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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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