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C−History
History · Grain Valley

Grain Valley dates to 1878

More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #214 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it

Most of Grain Valley was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1880.

1878founded
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Rowen Hansen · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Grain Valley began

When was Grain Valley founded?

1878

Grain Valley dates its founding to 1878 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 80 in 18802020 census: 15,627148 years

How historic is Grain Valley?

C−

More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1871.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Grain Valley’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grain Valley is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #214 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Grain Valley’s overall grade.
Founding era1878, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.0% of homes (±1.3) · typical MO town 8.4% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MO town 2.4 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 16%
NewerOlder
Missouri towns of 2,500+ (247)Ahead of 13%

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 Grain Valley’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1878.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 →

What stands out about Grain Valley’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Grain Valley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1890 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Grain Valley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Grain Valley’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Grain Valley, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00016,00018801900192019401960198020002020193 in 1890Low: 133

Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grain Valley’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Grain Valley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Grain Valley.

Read it all →

Grain Valley was founded in the late 1870s. The city was named for the general character of the grain-producing region. A post office called Grain Valley has been in operation since 1879. Grain Valley was founded primarily by former residents and business owners of Pink Hill, Missouri and Stoney Point Missouri who moved to this area after the Chicago and Alton Railroad built a railway through this area in 1878, bypassing the former communities of Pink Hill, Missouri and Stony Point Missouri. The townspeople needed to take advantage of the commerce that the railroad would provide during that era.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Grain Valley in 1881

Passages that mention Grain Valley, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Britton M. Capell came from Kentucky in the year 1840, and settled a farm near what is now the village of Grain Valley, and still hyes where he first settled and reared a family. He is a man of strong individual will and set purpose. Claiborne Webb came from Tennessee about the year 1836, and marri…
The History of Jackson county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens, Jackson county in the late war... history of Missouri, map of Jackson county ..1881 · page 317Read the page →
Read the text

Britton M. Capell came from Kentucky in the year 1840, and settled a farm near what is now the village of Grain Valley, and still hyes where he first settled and reared a family. He is a man of strong individual will and set purpose. Claiborne Webb came from Tennessee about the year 1836, and married in

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.

Timeline

Grain Valley, 1871 to 2020

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Matthews post office opens
  3. 1872Post officeThe Matthews post office closes
  4. 1878
    FoundingGrain Valley is established
  5. 1879Post officeThe Grain Valley post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1934On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 21st century
  9. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 15,627
By decade

Grain Valley, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Grain Valley Community Center2026Grain Valley Community CenterGrain Valley City Hall2026Grain Valley City HallOOIDA Headquarters2016OOIDA Headquarters
On the map

Grain Valley on the map, 1934 to 1990

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grain Valley. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Grain Valley on the 1934 USGS mapGrain Valley on the 1965 USGS mapGrain Valley on the 1975 USGS mapGrain Valley on the 1990 USGS map1934Oak Grove sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Grain Valley.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Grain Valley’s post office has been open since 1879. Another post office, Matthews, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Matthews
1871–1872
Grain Valley
1879–today
18701950today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Blue Springs1 historic placeB−

Questions about Grain Valley’s history

What year was Grain Valley founded?

In 1878, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Grain Valley’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1880 counted 80 people here.

How does Grain Valley rank for history?

Grain Valley is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #214 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.

How old are the homes in Grain Valley?

2% of Grain Valley’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 2002.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (3), 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.