More historic than 3% of U.S. towns · #241 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Barnhart was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 2000.
Founding year: the first Barnhart post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Barnhart’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Barnhart is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #241 of 247 in Missouri. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Barnhart’s overall grade.
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 Barnhart’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Barnhart’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The land surrounding Barnhart originally belonged to Benjamin O'Fallon, who settled here with his family in 1834. The James O'Fallon Home was built in 1860, and was purchased in 1884 by Joseph G. Marriott, a cattle rancher who introducing the first Holstein cattle to Jefferson County. The extant home is now called the Parkton Mansion. The town was not named until after the Frisco Railroad was completed in the early 1900s, and may have been named for Mrs. C. L. Barnhart, who donated land for the Frisco Railroad Depot.
The Barnhart post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Barnhart rank for history?
Barnhart is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #241 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.
How old are the homes in Barnhart?
0.4% of Barnhart’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (4), 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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2004