Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns · #171 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Eureka was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Its Register listing is the Meramec River U.S. Bridge - J421. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1880.
Eureka dates its founding to 1858 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Eureka is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #171 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 Eureka’s 0.8 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Eureka’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Eureka.
The area's first known inhabitants were Shawnee Native Americans on the banks of the Meramec River; archaeological artifacts can still be found today as evidence of their past occupation of the area.
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.
In the archiveFendler-Haus-Allentown
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveL and L Motel (NBY 425362)2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2026Eureka, Missouri 2026
2022Beck Park Sign
2021A now nonworking neon sign from an old roadhouse alon…
2021Sign in a brief portion of the old, mostly two-lane U…
2021Times Beach Museum Building History
2021Route 66 to Times Beach
2021Road to W 1st Street
2021I-44 Overpass
2021Famous-Barr Outing Farm (1910-1942)
2021Eureka, Missouri
2021Dreyer
2021Downtown
2021Downtown Eureka & 109
2021Untitled photo
2021Untitled photo
2017Missouri Route 109
2012Eureka Missouri
20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBook
2009Meramec Bluffs Retirement Community
2008Missouri Flood Relief
2004MOMap-doton-EurekaEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Eureka. 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 Eureka.
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 Eureka’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 141 people in 1880 to 11,646 in 2020, more than tenfold.
8 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Eureka’s Wikipedia page.
Eureka’s post office has been open since 1860.
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.
In 1858, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Eureka’s post office opened in 1853, and the census of 1880 counted 141 people here.
Eureka is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #171 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 Meramec River U.S. Bridge - J421 (listed 2009).
3% of Eureka’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1999.
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 (22), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
1909
