Founding year: the first Senath post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Senath’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Senath is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Senath’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 Senath’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Senath’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The city of Senath was first settled by A.W. Douglas, who is believed to have moved into the area in 1878. The city was later founded in 1882. It is named after an early settler, Asenath Douglass, who was commonly called Senath and in whose family her Bible-derived name Asenath was pronounced with a long "e" and with stress on the second syllable. A post office called Senath has been in operation since 1881. In 1897, the St. Louis, Kennett, & Southern Railroad was extended from Kennett south to Senath, giving the city its first rail connection.
The Senath post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Senath rank for history?
Senath is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Senath?
4% of Senath’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 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 (4), 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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