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History · Humphreys

Humphreys’ post office opened in 1881

Most of Humphreys was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1959. Below: maps from 1946 on and the census since 1890.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Humphreys began

When was Humphreys founded?

1881

The Humphreys post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 450 in 18902020 census: 89145 years
Founding year: the first Humphreys post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Humphreys’ 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 Humphreys are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Humphreys’ homes were built before 1959.
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Start Humphreys’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Humphreys’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Humphreys came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Humphreys.

Read it all →

Humphreys, originally known as Haley City, was first surveyed in April 1881 by G.M. Garvey for the Stringer family. When originally established, it consisted of just seventeen blocks with 246 lots. Additions of three blocks and nine blocks were made in January and May 1882, respectively. It was sometime during that spring of 1882 that the town name was changed to Humphreys. The town experienced rapid early growth, being located on the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad, with the train depot being constructed in August 1881. James Stringer established the first store in June 1881, and by the end of the year the new town supported four hotels, two drug stores, two dry goods stores, a general merchandise, and a millinery. A harness shop joined the business list in 1884 and blacksmiths in 1886 and 1887.

ChaptersEducation

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Humphreys on the map in 1946

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Humphreys.

Humphreys on the 1946 USGS map1946Galt 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 Humphreys.

People over time

Humphreys, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 450

Between 89 and 450 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Questions about Humphreys’ history

What year was Humphreys founded?

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

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 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.