Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #158 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Raymore was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 18 buildings. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1880.
The Raymore post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Raymore is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #158 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 Raymore’s 7.3 sits above most of its state (70% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 18 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% 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 Raymore’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Raymore’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Raymore.
Raymore was platted in 1872 and incorporated on March 20, 1877. The name Raymore is an amalgamation of the surnames of two railroad men, George Rea and Henry Moore. The Raymore post office has been in operation since 1872.
The Watkins Family Farm Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Raymore. 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 Raymore.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Raymore itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Raymore’s post office has been open since 1872.
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 Raymore post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Raymore is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #158 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 Watkins Family Farm Historic District (listed 2007).
0.4% of Raymore’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 2002.
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 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) 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.
