Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Meloan, Cummins & Co., General Store. Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1880.
Paynesville dates its founding to 1831 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
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 Paynesville’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 Paynesville.
Paynesville was platted in 1831, and named after William Payne, a St. Louis-based tradesman. A post office called Paynesville was established in 1833, and remained in operation until 1997.
The Meloan, Cummins & Co., General Store was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Paynesville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
October 14, 1S03, and i m us i<. 'rated to Pike county, Missouri, in the year 1824; after residing near Ivamsey Creek for a time on a farm, he started a tannery near Gwyii's Creek, where he remained about two years; thea moved his tannery to Paynesville' tiiis being the first manufacturing enter-, prise in that part of the couTity. About the year 1S34 he purchased the farm one mile east of Paynesville which bias for many years been knowri as the Patton homestead, and followed assiduously the avocation of a farmer until the year ISGT, when he ren.ioved to the town of Paynesville, whei'e he
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.
Weddings 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 Paynesville. 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 Paynesville.
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.
Between 54 and 243 people in every census since 1880.
7 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Paynesville’s Wikipedia page.
Paynesville had its own post office from 1833 to 1998.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1831, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Paynesville’s post office opened in 1833, and the census of 1880 counted 243 people here.
One place: the Meloan, Cummins & Co., General Store (listed 1993).
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 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 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.
