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History · Green City

Green City’s post office opened in 1881, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Green City Railroad Depot and the Green City Presbyterian Church. Below: maps from 1912 on and the census since 1890.

1881first post office
2on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Green City began

When was Green City founded?

1881

The Green City post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Kiddville (1857), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 318 in 18902020 census: 602145 years
Founding year: the first Green City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Green City’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 Green City are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 905 in 1920; 602 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Green City’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Green City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Green City’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

Green City, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 905

Peaked at 905 in 1920; 602 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Green City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Green City.

Read it all →

Green City traces its beginnings to April, 1880 when Sullivan County farmer Henry Pfeiffer commissioned surveyor Thomas J. Dockery to lay out the town in what had previously been a cornfield. The town plat consisted of fifty lots, each 60 by 130 feet. The impetus for the town was the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Tailway, which laid tracks close by in the early 1880s. A rail depot was built with donations from area farmers, and in 1881 C. B. Comstock built a store and warehouse. Around the same time a small frame building was moved from the nearby village of Kiddville by S.H. Davis who used it as a post office when he became Green City's first postmaster. Green City was officially incorporated on February 10, 1882.

ChaptersNotable events

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Green City, 1857 to 1920

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Kiddville post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Kiddville post office closes
  4. 1881Post officeThe Green City post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1912On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 905
By decade

Green City, decade by decade

Today1 recent
MOMap-doton-Green City2004MOMap-doton-Green City
On the map

Green City on the map, 1912 to 1974

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

Green City on the 1912 USGS mapGreen City on the 1974 USGS map1912Green City sheet · 1:62,500

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

Every building

Green City, building by building, 1917

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.

Green City fire insurance map, 1917, sheet 11917Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Green City

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1999
Green City Railroad Depot
Green City Railroad DepotGreen City Presbyterian Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Stick1
Standardized Railroad Depot1
Classical Revival1
Green City Railroad DepotStick
Green City Presbyterian ChurchClassical Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Green City

Nobody well known was born in Green City itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Geraldine PageAmerican actress · b. 1924
Agnes SmedleyAmerican journalist, writer, Comintern spy · b. 1892
G
Gordon BellAmerican computer engineer · b. 1934
Rhonda VincentAmerican musician · b. 1962
J
John WimberAmerican charismatic minister · b. 1934
Rusty DraperAmerican country and pop singer · b. 1923
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Green City’s post office has been open since 1881. Another post office, Kiddville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kiddville
1857–1881
Green City
1881–today
18501940today

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

Questions about Green City’s history

What year was Green City founded?

The Green City post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Green City?

Two places: the Green City Railroad Depot (listed 1999) and the Green City Presbyterian Church (2000).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.