Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Gravois Mills was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Its Register listing is the Old St. Patrick's Church. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1960.
The Gravois Mills post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Millville (1834), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Gravois Mills’s history is told.
Peaked at 208 in 2000; 129 people lived here in 2020.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gravois Mills’ Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gravois Mills. 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 Gravois Mills.
From Wikipedia’s history of Gravois Mills.
Gravois Mills was laid out in 1884 and named for a nearby gristmill on Gravois Creek. A post office called Gravois Mills has been in operation since 1860.
Old St. Patrick's Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyNo 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 Gravois Mills’ 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.
Nobody well known was born in Gravois Mills itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Gravois Mills’s post office has been open since 1860. Another post office, Millville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Gravois Mills post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Old St. Patrick's Church (listed 1979).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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.
Date?
2021
