Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 1900.
The Morehouse post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 1,913 in 1920; 741 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Morehouse’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Morehouse.
Morehouse was established as a lumber camp in the 19th century. It was known as "Little River" from 1877 to 1887. When a post office was established in 1893, it was named "Morehouse" after Albert P. Morehouse, who served as the 26th Governor of Missouri from 1887 to 1889.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1940Morehouse group labor homes, New Madrid County, Misso…
1940Group labor homes. Morehouse group. New Madrid County…
1940Group labor homes. Morehouse group. New Madrid County…
1940Group labor homes. Morehouse group. New Madrid County…
1940Morehouse group of labor homes. New Madrid County, Mi…
1940One of the group labor homes. Morehouse group. New Ma…
1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Group labor home…
1940Utility building and some of the houses at Morehouse …Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Morehouse. 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 Morehouse.
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.
1911Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Morehouse’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Morehouse itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Morehouse post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (8), Wikipedia, 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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