Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Unionville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Unionville is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Unionville’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 Unionville’s 225 sits above most of its state (95% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 41 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 points). Two sources give 1853.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Unionville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Unionville, building by building, 1893–1909
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.
Unionville was first named Harmony when established in 1853 as the county seat for Putnam County. Prior to that the county seat had moved several times, often with heated debate, thus the centralized location hoping to bring "harmony" to all concerned. (see Putnam County history for more details)
The Union Township trustees first met on February 4, 1873, at the court-house in Unionville. Since that day, Unionville straddles the municipal border between Union Township and Wilson Township.
In 1853, according to Wikidata. Unionville’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1860 counted 227 people here.
How does Unionville rank for history?
Unionville is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. 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 Unionville?
One place: the Unionville Square Historic District (listed 2002).
How old are the homes in Unionville?
15% of Unionville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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