Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1933 on and the census since 1950.
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 Bella Villa’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,018 in 1970; 757 people lived here in 2020.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bella Villa’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bella Villa yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bella Villa is a city in Lemay Township, St. Louis County, Missouri, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 757.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 729 to 757 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bella Villa. 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 Bella Villa.
Nobody well known was born in Bella Villa itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
