Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #220 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Greenwood was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1880.
The Greenwood post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1867.
More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greenwood is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #220 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds 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 Greenwood’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.
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 Greenwood’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Greenwood.
Greenwood was laid out in 1867. A post office called Greenwood has been in operation since 1866. The city was incorporated in 1963.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Greenwood, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The town of Greenwood was laid out in four sections, in sections 27, 28, 33 and 34, Tp. 47, R. 31, and the plat was filed for record on the 25th day of June, [867. It is located very near the southern limits of Jackson county, on the main line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
George A. Bowin, came to Jackson County and located near Greenwood, Sept. 13, 1880. He was engaged in farming for a number of years in Cass County, prior to settling in Greenwood.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
also bought and sold stock in this county. He also lived in Texas for a time, David Sample came to Jackson County in 1868, and first located on a farm a mile east of Greenwood ; later he bought a farm of 160 acres, two miles east of Greenwood, This was heavily timbered land, and he cleared away the timber and improved the place, bringing it under a high state of cultivation, and at the time of his death it was one of the well im¬ proved and valuable farms of that locality. Like his father before him,
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greenwood. 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 Greenwood.
Grew from 234 people in 1880 to 6,021 in 2020, more than tenfold.
9 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Greenwood’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Greenwood post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1867.
Greenwood is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #220 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.
1% of Greenwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1995.
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 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 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.
