Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 36 buildings. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1870.
The La Plata post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, La Plata is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 La Plata’s 289 sits above most of its state (96% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 39 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how La Plata’s history is told.
The 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.
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.
1894Sheet 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 La Plata.
The beginnings of La Plata can be traced back to March 17, 1827, when Drury Davis established a trading post near the town's current location. The ensuing few years saw Davis joined by family and friends to create a small village that included a blacksmith shop, an inn, and stagecoach station.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention La Plata, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Santa Fe is the only doiible track system passing through Macon county. Following the building of this road many important towns sprang up in the north and west part of the county, and the large town of La Plata was given a decided commercial impetus. One of the largest contractors' suits ever before a Missouri court developed out of the construction of the Santa Fe railroad in this section. After the work approached its completion it became evident that the engineers for the railroad and those employed by the contractors,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Dorian Dudley White, railroad agent at La Plata, belongs to the class of officials who aim to please those who have dealings with them and afford the public every proper accommodation. And, although he has been stationed at his present post only a few months, he has already won the regard and good will of the whole community. By his course he has also brought greater popularity to the railroads centering in La Plata, and rendered them less subject to criticism and censure.
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.
Born hereLester Dent is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Plata. 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 La Plata.
Between 529 and 1,605 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on La Plata’s Wikipedia page.
The La Plata post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
La Plata is more historic than 80% 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Gilbreath-McLorn House (listed 1978, the first), and 1 historic district, the La Plata Square Historic District, with 36 contributing buildings. 39 historic buildings in all.
25% of La Plata’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
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