Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #50 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
25 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Truman, Harry S, Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and three historic districts with 9 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
The Independence post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name. Seven smaller post offices, Lake City (1876), Glendale (1879) and Selsa (1881), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 78% 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 is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #50 of 247 in Missouri. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Independence ranks #133 on History.
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’s 3.0 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 36 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Independence’s post office has been open since 1827. Seven 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).
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Independence.
The area that is now Independence was originally inhabited by Missouri and Osage Native Americans. Later made part of the territory of Louisiana that was alternately part of New France and New Spain, it became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Lewis and Clark Expedition stopped in what would become Independence in 1804.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Independence, cut from the printed page as they were published.
you," the man would say, "I was there, I saw it, and I saw the old gray-headed priest of Independence performing the ceremony." Father Donnelly was the priest of Independence and he was grayheaded, but he knew there must be a mistake for he had not performed that ceremony, he had not been at Independence for nearly six weeks. He could no longer restrain himself, and in loud tones
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A few left the boats at Shelby Landing, near Independence. Independence is the county seat of Jackson County, which was made a county of the State of Missouri in 1827. The seal of the City of Independence harks back to those days. The design shows four mules attached to the covered wagon or
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.
In the archiveJoseph Smith junior 1842
In the archiveSaints Driven From Jackson County Missouri by C.C.A. Christensen
In the archiveThe Border War. Another Abolition Outrage. They Try to Run Off Forty Slaves. One of the J…
Born hereBess Truman is born here
Born hereGinger Rogers is born hereBuiltMissouri Pacific Depot is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMargaret Weis is born here
BuiltHarry S Truman National Historic Site is built3 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Independence. 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.
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’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 3,164 people in 1860 to 123,011 in 2020, more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Independence’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Independence post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Independence is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #50 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.
25 listings: 20 buildings, among them the Harvey M. Vaile Mansion (listed 1969, the first), 3 historic districts, the Truman, Harry S, Historic District, the Harry S Truman National Historic Site and the Drumm, Andrew, Institute, with 9 contributing buildings, and 2 sites. 36 historic buildings in all.
13% of Independence’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (25), 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.
c. 1842
1857
1868
