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B−History
History · St. John

23% of St. John’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 49% of U.S. towns · #120 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it

Below: maps from 1933 on and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

About St. John’s history

How historic is St. John?

B−

More historic than 49% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives St. John’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. John is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #120 of 247 in Missouri. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. John’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194023.2% of homes (±6.5) · typical MO town 8.4% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MO town 2.4 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 49%
NewerOlder
Missouri towns of 2,500+ (247)Ahead of 52%

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 St. John’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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.5 points).

Founding year: our sources. 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 St. John’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of St. John are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 8,960 in 1970; 6,643 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of St. John’s homes were built before 1951.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. John’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. John’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

St. John, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 8,960

Peaked at 8,960 in 1970; 6,643 people lived here in 2020.

9 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. John’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

St. John, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of St. John yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

St. John or Saint John is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, with its commercial district centered along St. Charles Rock Road. It is a few miles southeast of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,643.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 6,517 in 2010, 6,643 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

St. John, 1923 to 1970

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1923Post officeThe Saint Johns Station post office opens
  3. 1925Post officeThe Saint Johns Station post office closes
  4. 1933On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 8,960
By decade

St. John, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Downtown2013Downtown
On the map

St. John on the map, 1933 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. John. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

St. John on the 1933 USGS mapSt. John on the 1941 USGS mapSt. John on the 1954 USGS mapSt. John on the 1968 USGS mapSt. John on the 1974 USGS mapSt. John on the 1993 USGS map1933Clayton sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. John.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Another post office, Saint Johns Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Johns

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bel-Ridge1 historic placeA+Woodson TerraceIts storyC−BerkeleyIts storyC−Overland1 historic placeB−Breckenridge HillsIts storyB−CharlackIts storyB+

Questions about St. John’s history

How does St. John rank for history?

St. John is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #120 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.

How old are the homes in St. John?

23% of St. John’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1951.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (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.