The story
Read it all →How Asbury came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Asbury.
Asbury was platted in 1896. A post office called Asbury has been in operation since 1894.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Asbury
Asbury’s post office opened in 1894, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1945 on and the census since 1920.
1894first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Asbury began
When was Asbury founded?
1894
The Asbury post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 226 in 19202020 census: 193132 years
Founding year: the first Asbury post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Asbury’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Asbury’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Asbury’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Asbury, census by census
Peaked at 264 in 1930; 193 people lived here in 2020.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Asbury’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Asbury in 1912
Passages that mention Asbury, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people1912 · page 433Read the page →
Read the text
ASBUBY The town of Asbury was laid out in 1896, was largely advertised by the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railway and attracted during that year a large number of investors. So rapidly did the town grow that before the close of the year there were six stores, two livery stables, two hotels and an implement house. The houses built were of a substantial character and a good class of people came here to make it their homes. The population increased so fast that it was necessary to build
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.
Timeline
Asbury, 1894 to 1945
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1894Post officeThe Asbury post office opens
- 20th century
- 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 264
- 1945
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Asbury on the map, 1945 to 1981
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Asbury. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1945Pittsburg sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Asbury.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Asbury
Nobody well known was born in Asbury itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Places now gone
Asbury’s post office has been open since 1894.
Gone or out of use
Asbury Schoolschool
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Asbury’s history
What year was Asbury founded?
The Asbury post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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, 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.