New Madrid dates to 1788, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns · #76 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of New Madrid was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Its Register listing is the Hunter-Dawson House. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1805.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Madrid’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Madrid is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #76 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Madrid’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 New Madrid’s 11.3 sits above most of its state (73% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 points). Two sources give 1788.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 New Madrid’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
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 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
New Madrid, 1788 to 1941
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The first more or less permanent settlement at present-day New Madrid was established by bands of Shawnee, Delaware, Creek, and Cherokee who were turned into refugees due to the U.S. War for Independence. These refugee Native American bands accepted Spanish offers to settle on the west bank of the Mississippi River in the early 1780s. These mixed Native American groups established a settlement and informal trading post where a northward, horseshoe bend of the Mississippi met the Chepusa creek, which provided an easy place for landing boats. Native American hunters and European-American merchants made the settlement a location for processing the bounty of hunts, including the valuable but messy fat of bears and buffalo, which was used in preparing skins and furs. The settlement quickly acquired the name L’Anse a la Graise — “Cove of Grease” or “Greasy Cove.”
In 1788, according to Wikidata. New Madrid’s post office opened in 1805, and the census of 1860 counted 610 people here.
How does New Madrid rank for history?
New Madrid is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #76 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 New Madrid?
One place: the Hunter-Dawson House (listed 2012).
How old are the homes in New Madrid?
6% of New Madrid’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 Library of Congress (11), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1826
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