Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 1960.
Cobalt first appears in the census in 1960.
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 Cobalt’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cobalt yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Cobalt is a village in Madison County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 264, up from 226 in 2010.
Its first post office opened in 1960. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 226 to 264 (+17%).
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 Cobalt. 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 Cobalt.
Between 189 and 434 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cobalt’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Cobalt itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Cobalt post office opened in 1960, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
