Mountain Grove’s post office opened in 1875, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #128 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Mountain Grove was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1967. Its Register listings are the Administration Building, Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station, the Mountain Grove Bandstand and the Mountain Grove City Hall. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Mountain Grove post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mountain Grove’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mountain Grove is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #128 of 247 in Missouri. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mountain Grove’s overall grade.
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 Mountain Grove’s 6.7 sits above most of its state (69% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Mountain Grove’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
A post office called Mountain Grove has been in operation since 1875. The community owes its present name to a stand of trees near the original elevated town site.
In 1841 a settlement was built on land east of Mountain Grove near a spring in a grove of hickory timber. A post office was established in Hickory Spring, the original name of Mountain Grove, in 1851, but was removed in 1861.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mountain Grove. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1951Mountain Grove North sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mountain Grove.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this view15-year old boy who says he works some for the railroad. Mountain Grove, Missouri, 1916
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mountain Grove’s page.
The Mountain Grove post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mountain Grove rank for history?
Mountain Grove is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #128 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.
What is on the National Register in Mountain Grove?
Three places: the Administration Building, Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station (listed 1979), the Mountain Grove Bandstand (1989) and the Mountain Grove City Hall (2012).
How old are the homes in Mountain Grove?
7% of Mountain Grove’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (20), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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 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.
1916
1916
1916
2023
2023
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2021
2021
2021
2021
2004
