Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #219 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of St. Paul was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1880.
The St. Paul post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Saint Paul (1875), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Paul is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #219 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds 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 St. Paul’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.
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 St. Paul’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of St. Paul.
A post office called Saint Paul was established in 1875, and remained in operation until 1964. The community takes its name from a local Roman Catholic church of the same name.
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 St. Paul. 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 St. Paul.
Grew from 64 people in 1880 to 3,005 in 2020, more than tenfold.
6 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Paul’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in St. Paul itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Saint Paul, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The St. Paul post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
St. Paul is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #219 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.
2% of St. Paul’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 2005.
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 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.
