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History · Homestown

1 of Homestown’s places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Delmo Community Center. Most of Homestown was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1955. Below: maps from 1940 on and the census since 1960.

1on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0

What stands out about Homestown’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 Homestown are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Homestown’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Homestown’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Homestown’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
The story

How Homestown came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Homestown.

Read it all →

Homestown, originally known as South Wardell, was one of ten communities constructed by the Farm Security Administration for displaced sharecroppers and tenant farmers following the January 1939 roadside sharecropper demonstration in Southeast Missouri. It was the largest of the communities and was designated for use by African-Americans.

The Delmo Community Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Homestown, decade by decade

Today8 recent
Homestown-water-tower-mo2018Homestown-water-tower-moHomestown-rural-road-mo2018Homestown-rural-road-moHomestown-city-office-mo2018Homestown-city-office-moHomestown-city-limit-sign-mo2018Homestown-city-limit-sign-moHomestown-church-Highway-B2018Homestown-church-Highway-BHomestown-chimney-mo2018Homestown-chimney-moHomestown-Wardell-Lodge-mo2018Homestown-Wardell-Lodge-moHomestown-Miracle-Temple-mo2018Homestown-Miracle-Temple-mo
On the map

Homestown on the map, 1940 to 1978

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

Homestown on the 1940 USGS mapHomestown on the 1955 USGS mapHomestown on the 1978 USGS map1940Pascola 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 Homestown.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Homestown

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2009
Delmo Community Center
Delmo Community Center
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Side Gable Utility Building1
All 1 listings
Delmo Community CenterBuilding · listed 2009

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

People over time

Homestown, census by census

01002003001960198020002020Peak: 306

Between 73 and 306 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Questions about Homestown’s history

What is on the National Register in Homestown?

One place: the Delmo Community Center (listed 2009).

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 (8), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.