Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #138 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Solomon Young Farm-Truman, Harry S., Farm, a National Historic Landmark, and two historic districts with 31 buildings between them. Most of Grandview was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1916 on, and the census since 1920.
The Grandview post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1900.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grandview is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #138 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 Grandview’s 11.7 sits above most of its state (74% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 31 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% 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 Grandview’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grandview.
A post office called Grandview has been in operation since 1889. The city was named for the view obtained from the elevated town site.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Grandview, cut from the printed page as they were published.
They settled in Washington township, about four miles southwest of where the town of Grandview now stands. Although that township of land had never been surveyed or opened for settlement a number of people were coming in and occupying it. They were anticipating the time when it would be opened for settlement. On an old government map, now in the county surveyor’s office in Independence, is the report of the United States Surveyor, made in 1843, as they ran the section line, they frequently ran through the farms of the settlers and noted it on the map.
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 Survey
In the archiveMajor Oscar R. Fladmark (Left) and Major General Jarred V. Crabb (Right)
Born hereAlec Burks is born here
Born hereFreedom Akinmoladun is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2019Music on main beauty shot
2014Junction of Interstates 49, 435, and 470
2014Junction of Interstates 49, 435, and 470
2014Junction of Interstates 49, 435, and 470
2004MOMap-doton-Grandview
2002Interstate 470 East at Exit 9, Douglas St, Colbern Rd…
2002Interstate 470 & US 50 East at Exit 1C, Blue Ridge Bl…
2002Interstate 470 & US 50 East at Exit 1A, US 71 South, …Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grandview. 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 Grandview.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1916Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Grandview’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 410 people in 1920 to 26,209 in 2020, more than tenfold.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grandview’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Grandview’s post office has been open since 1889.
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 Grandview post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1900.
Grandview is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #138 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.
Two places: the Solomon Young Farm-Truman, Harry S., Farm (listed 1978) and the Grandview Residential Historic District (2005).
2% of Grandview’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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