Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #88 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Moscow Mills was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2007. Its Register listing is the Old Rock House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1910.
Moscow Mills dates its founding to 1821 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1910.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Moscow Mills is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #88 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds 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 Moscow Mills’ 2.6 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Moscow Mills’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Moscow Mills.
Moscow Mills was laid out in 1821, and named for a watermill of the same name near the original town site.
The Old Rock House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Moscow Mills. 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 Moscow Mills.
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.
1909Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn 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 Moscow Mills’ 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.
Grew from 395 people in 1910 to 3,317 in 2020, 8 times over.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Moscow Mills’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Moscow Mills itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Moscow Mills’s post office has been open since 1878. Another post office, Moscow, 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).
In 1821, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Moscow Mills’ post office opened in 1821, and the census of 1910 counted 395 people here.
Moscow Mills is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #88 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.
One place: the Old Rock House (listed 1972).
9% of Moscow Mills’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 2007.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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