Graham, one of the earliest settlements in the Platte Purchase was founded in 1839. It was originally called Jacksonville, but was platted as Graham in 1856. The present name is after Col. Amos Graham, a local clerk. In 1860, under the first postmaster, the post office briefly went by the name of Brownsville until the mid-1860s. A post office called Graham has been in operation since 1852, however was out of service from 2014 to 2020 due to the building being an extremely hazardous location.
Simpson's College was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Passages that mention Graham, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Nodaway county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens1882 · page 202Read the page →
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as it was near by, though men and boys frequently rode twelve or fifteen miles on a sack of corn laid across a h'orse, and returned home the same day, feeling that it was a small job to go to mill. Andrew Brown afterward laid out the town of Graham calling it Jacksonville. In 1858-9, the Legislature changed the name to Graham, so that the post office and town would bear the same name. In 1845 t-ne Bridgewater Mill was built by Moore & Cock, which was indeed a valuable acquisition. For many years there were no doctors north of Savannah, the people having
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The history of Nodaway county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens1882 · page 205Read the page →
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The town was called Jacksonville from the time it was laid out until 1859, when the name was changed to Graham by a special act of the Legislature. A few years before the town was laid out, a post office was secured for that community, which was located about half a mile north of the present town site. This post office was called Graham, in honor of Col. Amos Graham, through whom it was secured. The name of the town was changed from Jacksonville to Graham in order that the town and post office might have the same name.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Wikimedia Commons (3), 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), 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.
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