Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns · #135 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Sikeston was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Its Register listings are the Sikeston St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Depot, the Marshall Hotel and the Lincoln School. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1880.
The Sikeston post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sikeston is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #135 of 247 in Missouri. Its National Register listings hold 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 Sikeston’s 1.8 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% 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.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1895Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sikeston.
The first explorers and settlers came to a region of cypress swamps and forested prairies. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Little River Drainage District was formed to reclaim the land. This was the world's largest drainage project, moving more earth than completed during the construction of the Panama Canal.
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.
In the archiveUS 1911 Cairo & Bluff RPO Nashville TN Cover front
In the archiveHahs Machine Works, Highway 61, south -- Sikeston, Mo (83361)Born hereJacqueline Scott is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBorn hereKenny Hulshof is born hereBorn hereNeal E. Boyd is born hereBorn hereBlake DeWitt is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1911US 1911 Cairo & Bluff RPO Nashville TN Cover frontc. 1930Hahs Machine Works, Highway 61, south -- Sikeston, Mo…
c. 1930Reiss Dairy, Sikeston, Missouri (82624)
c. 1930Rustic Rock Inn, Highway 61 N., Sikeston, Mo (82600)
1937Exhausted flood refugee resting, Sikeston, Missouri, …
1937Exhausted flood refugee resting, Sikeston, Missouri, …Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sikeston. 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 Sikeston.
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 Sikeston’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 191 and 17,641 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sikeston’s Wikipedia page.
Sikeston’s post office has been open since 1860.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Sikeston post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Sikeston is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #135 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.
Three places: the Sikeston St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Depot (listed 2000), the Marshall Hotel (1984) and the Lincoln School (2024).
8% of Sikeston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
