Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #154 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1930.
The Sugar Creek post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Courtney (1888), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sugar Creek is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #154 of 247 in Missouri. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Sugar Creek’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 Sugar Creek’s history is told.
Peaked at 4,755 in 1970; 3,271 people lived here in 2020.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sugar Creek’s Wikipedia page.
Sugar Creek had its own post office from 1904 to 1951. Another post office, Courtney, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Sugar Creek.
Like many cities along the Missouri River, Sugar Creek shows evidence of having once been the home of the Osage people. The city takes its name from nearby Sugar Creek.
On June 25, 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped on an island in the Missouri River opposite what is modern day Sugar Creek.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Sugar Creek, cut from the printed page as they were published.
est in the duties of his office and administers its affairs in a capable man¬ ner with the aid of his assistant. Miss Vivian Wilson, who has been in the office for the past three years. The first mail messenger from the Santa Fe railroad depot to the Sugar Creek postoffice was J. H. Thatch, who
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sugar Creek. 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 Sugar Creek.
Nobody well known was born in Sugar Creek itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Sugar Creek post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Sugar Creek is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #154 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.
36% of Sugar Creek’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.9 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (9), Wikipedia, 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 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.
2025
2025
2025
2025
2025
2025
2025
2025
2004
