Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns · #118 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Pine Lawn Carriage House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1933 on, and the census since 1950.
The Pine Lawn post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pine Lawn is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #118 of 247 in Missouri. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Pine Lawn’s 3.7 sits near the middle of its state (58% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Pine Lawn’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pine Lawn yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Pine Lawn is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, Pine Lawn had a population of 2,754.
Its first post office opened in 1907. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,275 to 2,754 (-16%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pine Lawn. 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 Pine Lawn.
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 Pine Lawn’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.
Between 2,754 and 6,570 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pine Lawn’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Pine Lawn itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Pine Lawn had its own post office from 1907 to 1916.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Pine Lawn post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pine Lawn is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #118 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 Pine Lawn Carriage House (listed 1984).
30% of Pine Lawn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.6 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
Date?
2023
2016
