Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Nathan Boone House and the Berry Cemetery. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
The Ash Grove post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ash Grove is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Ash Grove’s 15.0 sits above most of its state (77% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ash Grove’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ash Grove. 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 Ash Grove.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ash Grove.
Ash Grove was laid out in 1853. The city was named from a grove of ash trees near the original town site. A post office called Ash Grove has been in operation since 1849.
Berry Cemetery, Gilmore Barn, and the Nathan and Olive Boone Homestead State Historic Site, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Ash Grove, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Februaiy 2, 1870, the town was incorporated by the county court, but this incorporation was defective, and in May, 1871, the court reincorporated " the town of Ash Grove." The town is surrounded by a very rich agricultural country. It has a peculiarly favorable position for growth and prosperity, as the town is the nearest railway station for the wealthiest portions of Polk, Dade, Lawrence and Cedar counties. Ash Grove is twenty miles from Springfield, on the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf railroad,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the Wabash Railroad Company in St. Louis. In 1862 he took over the first cargo of petroleum that was ever sent across the Atlantic ocean, returning to St. Louis in 1865 about the close of the Civil war. He came to Greene county soon thereafter, and in 1866 laid out the town of Ash Grove. lie was elected count}' judge in 1 S70. In the early seventies he performed one of his greatest services to the locality in assisting in the reorganization of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & .Memphis railroad, thus securing a new
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Ash Grove was incorporated February 2d, of this year, and North Springfield was incorporated July 12th. 1871 MISCELLANEOUS.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Ash Grove was incorporated February 2d, of this year, and North Springfield was incorporated July 12th. 1871 MISCELLANEOUS.
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.
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 Ash Grove’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.
Grew from 500 people in 1880 to 1,512 in 2020, 3 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ash Grove’s Wikipedia page.
The Ash Grove post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Ash Grove is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns. 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.
Two places: the Nathan Boone House (listed 1969) and the Berry Cemetery (2004).
32% of Ash Grove’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.4 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 the Library of Congress (10), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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