Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #132 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 75 buildings. Most of Creve Coeur was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1933 on and the census since 1950.
The Creve Coeur post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Fernridge (1878), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Creve Coeur is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #132 of 247 in Missouri. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Creve Coeur’s 40.2 sits above most of its state (87% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 75 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% 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 Creve Coeur’s history is told.
The 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Creve Coeur.
The name crève-cœur (French: [krɛv.kœʁ]; French for 'heartbreak') is said to derive from Creve Coeur Lake. According to the city's website, the tale goes that the lake "formed itself into a broken heart" after an Indian princess's unrequited love for a French fur trapper led her to jump "from a ledge overlooking" the lake.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereHeinie Mueller is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereScarborough Green is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Creve Coeur. 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 Creve Coeur.
Grew from 2,040 people in 1950 to 18,834 in 2020, 9 times over.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Creve Coeur’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Creve Coeur had its own post office from 1851 to 1959. Another post office, Fernridge, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Creve Coeur post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Creve Coeur is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #132 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.
One place: the Ladue Estates (listed 2010).
1% of Creve Coeur’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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