Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Fair Grove was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listing is the Boegel and Hine Flour Mill-Wommack Mill. Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 1880.
The Fair Grove post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fair Grove is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Fair Grove’s 5.8 sits above most of its state (67% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Fair Grove’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fair Grove.
A post office called Fair Grove has been in operation since 1856. The community was named for a grove of trees near the original town site that reminded the early settlers of Fairgrove, North Carolina, from where they migrated.
The Boegel and Hine Flour Mill-Wommack Mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Fair Grove, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Fair Grove is situated in the northeastern part of Greene county, on section 20, township 31, in a timbered region of country, abounding in good soil, and in which there are many excellent farms. It was never regularly laid out as a town. The first house erected was a log school house, known as Duke's school house, built in the year 1846.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Fair Grove is situated in the northeastern part of Greene county, on section 20, township 31, in a timbered region of country, abounding in good soil, and in which there are many excellent farms. It was never regularly laid out as a town. The first house erected was a log school house, known as Duke's school house, built in the year 1846.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The present school house in Fair Grove, a frame, 30 by 40 in size, was built in 1868, at a cost of $1,000. Pre-eminent among the teachers of this school in the past are mentioned Dr. Ellis and J. A. Long.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The present school house in Fair Grove, a frame, 30 by 40 in size, was built in 1868, at a cost of $1,000. Pre-eminent among the teachers of this school in the past are mentioned Dr. Ellis and J. A. Long.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Fair Grove. 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 Fair Grove.
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.
Grew from 72 people in 1880 to 1,582 in 2020, more than tenfold.
7 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fair Grove’s Wikipedia page.
The Fair Grove post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Fair Grove is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. 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 Boegel and Hine Flour Mill-Wommack Mill (listed 1986).
8% of Fair Grove’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
