Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns · #180 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Pevely was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1920.
Pevely dates its founding to 1860 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1920.
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pevely is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #180 of 247 in Missouri. Its National Register listings hold 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 Pevely’s 3.3 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pevely. 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 Pevely.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pevely.
Pevely was platted in 1860. A post office called Pevely has been in operation since 1858.
The Gustave Greystone-Meissner House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
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.
BuiltGustave Greystone-Meissner House is built
In the archiveSoutheast view of Greystone-Meissner House near
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveGreystone2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Pevely’s 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 167 people in 1920 to 6,026 in 2020, more than tenfold.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pevely’s Wikipedia page.
Another post office, Riverside, 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pevely’s history is told.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1860, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Pevely’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1920 counted 167 people here.
Pevely is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #180 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 Gustave Greystone-Meissner House (listed 1974).
0.5% of Pevely’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 2000.
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 (4), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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