Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Smithton post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Smith City (1860), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Smithton was named for Gen. George R. Smith, a railroad promoter, or for General Thomas A. Smith.
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 Smithton’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Smithton.
Smithton was platted in 1859. It was named for Gen. George R. Smith, a railroad promoter, or for General Thomas A. Smith.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Smithton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
literary and medical departments. Came to Missouri in 1832, and moved to Pettis county in 1840, and located on the eastern border of the county on a farm which he improved himself, where he lived and practiced medicine until he sold his farm and located in the town of Smithton in the year 1872, where he resided until his death, which occurred on the 10th of September, 1874. The remains are buried at the Smithton cemetery.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
brought from Georgetown on wagons, and just as soon as a man could get anything to protect goods, that would pass muster for a house, he began business. In 1861, just before the railroad got to Sedalia, the supplies for the Southwest Expedition were brought by rail to Smithton, and that was about the last time that it had, what would be called in the expressive slang of the present day, " a business boom." As soon as the railroad reached Sedalia it became at once the depot of the Overland Stage Line and the headquarters for supplies, as the other towns where the line had
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The Missouri Pacific railroad enters the county from the east on the line of the counties of Morgan and Cooper, passing through Smithton township, the village of Smithton and thence northwest to Sedalia, con¬ tinuing in a northwesterly direction to Dresden, thence to LaMonte, thence west through Johnson county, thence west and north to Kansas City.
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William Montgomery, prosperous farmer of Smithton, Missouri, pro¬ prietor of a well-improved farm of 270 acres, adjoining the town of Smithton on the east, is a self-made man, who has dug every dollar which he owns out of the soil. Mr. Montgomery has owned his fine farm since 1902, and has made many improvements on the place, including a large barn, 60x60 feet, the lower story of which is built of reinforced concrete. Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nobody well known was born in Smithton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Smithton’s post office has been open since 1871. Another post office, Smith City, 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 Smithton post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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