Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1831.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Huntsville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Huntsville is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Huntsville’s overall grade.
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 Huntsville’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.3 points). Two sources give 1820.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
What stands out about Huntsville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Randolph County was organized 22.01.1829, and Huntsville was established as the county seat in 1831. Daniel Hunt, a Kentuckian, was the first settler of Huntsville, in honor of whom the town was named. He settled here between 1820 and 1821. He was soon followed by William Goggin, Gideon Wright and Henry Winburn, also from Kentucky. William Goggins established a mill here, the first in the county. They entered the land from the government upon which Huntsville is located and donated 50 acres for a town site, giving 12 1/2 acres each forming an exact square, the dome of the court house being the center.
Passages that mention Huntsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Randolph County, Missouri1920 · page 563Read the page →
Read the text
ments in Missouri and Arkansas, including Pea Ridge and a number of engagements in Mississippi. He was discharged at Camp Mitchell, but on his way home reinlisted in southern Missouri. Later while on his way to Huntsville, he was captured and charged with being a spy. However, he was later released by giving $2,000 bond and after working one winter in the drug store in Huntsville, he went to California in the spring of '63 and remained there until '65 when he returned to Huntsville.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Judge Sandison was reared in Huntsville and educated in the . public schools of that city and the University of Missouri at Columbia, Mo. Since reaching manhood he has been engaged in the implement business at Huntsville and has built up an extensive trade. He is well known in Huntsville and Randolph County. He has served as police judge of Huntsville for five terms, a period of ten years.
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.
Huntsville’s post office has been open since 1831.
Gone or out of use
Lincoln Schoolschool
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Huntsville’s history
What year was Huntsville founded?
In 1820, according to Wikidata. Huntsville’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1880 counted 1,527 people here.
How does Huntsville rank for history?
Huntsville is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Huntsville?
31% of Huntsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.
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