Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1880.
The Hardin post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Hardin’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hardin. 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 Hardin.
Peaked at 847 in 1920; 571 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hardin’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hardin.
Hardin was laid out in 1868. The community was named for Charles Henry Hardin, 22nd Governor of Missouri. A post office called Hardin has been in operation since 1858.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hardin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Hardin was laid out in 1868, and incorporated in October, 1870. James Darby was the first mayor; John D. Reyburn built the first house, and Fountain Roselle was the owner of the first store in Hardin. The first school-house in the town was built in 1870, at a cost of seven hundred dollars.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Theodosia, wife f J. S. King; Walter, Lee Jackson, Harvey Ray, George Wash ton, Arthur Stephen, William Franklin, John Neil and Bud. The fir? child, Fillmore, by the second marriege, died at the age of six months. Mr. Happy came from Kentucky to Hardin, Ray county, Missouri, in 185 % and for a time after coming operated a saw mill and then merchandised for about four months at Hardin. Moved to the place he at present occupies (section twenty-one, township fifty-one, range twenty-eight) in 1868. This is a fine farm of two hundred acres of very
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.
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 year, then a sheet.
1909Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Hardin post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.
2021