Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #127 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Independence Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Below: 3 old photos and papers and maps from 1934 on.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Independence Township is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #127 of 247 in Missouri. Its National Register listings hold 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 Independence Township’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (50% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Independence Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Independence Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Independence Township is a township in Dunklin County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. Independence Township was erected in 1845.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 12,991 to 12,263 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveNorth over Temple Lot, site marked by Mormon prophecy for world's greatest temple
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveVaile Mansion2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Independence Township. 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 Independence Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Independence Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Independence Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Independence Township is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #127 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.
8% of Independence Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 the Library of Congress (6), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
1909
2021
2021
2021
