Founding year: the first Tipton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Tipton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tipton is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #79 of 247 in Missouri. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Tipton’s overall grade.
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 Tipton’s 15.0 sits above most of its state (77% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Tipton’s past
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Tipton was a predominantly German-American community, in the region known as the Missouri Weinstrasse. Tipton was an eastern terminus of the Butterfield Overland Mail when it was launched in 1858. The route was connected to St. Louis by the Pacific Railroad. Tipton is named for William Tipton Seely, a businessman in nearby Round Hill. He received the land for his service in the War of 1812. From Tipton, a stage went to Fort Smith, Arkansas (where another branch from Memphis also entered). From there, it went on to Los Angeles and San Francisco via a route through southern Arizona and New Mexico. The first run went from Tipton to San Francisco from September 16 to October 10, 1858. The route antedated the Pony Express by two years.
The Tipton post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Tipton rank for history?
Tipton is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #79 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.
What is on the National Register in Tipton?
Two places: the Maclay Mansion (listed 1979) and the Harrison School (2021).
How old are the homes in Tipton?
19% of Tipton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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