Most of Warsaw was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listing is the Upper Bridge. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1839.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Warsaw’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Warsaw is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Warsaw’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 Warsaw’s 5.1 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 points). Two sources give 1837.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Warsaw’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.
1892Sheet 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.
Timeline
Warsaw, 1837 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The original inhabitants of the area were the Delaware, Shawnee, Sac, Kickapoo, and Osage tribes (namesake of the Osage River which passed by the city). French settlers visited the area as early as 1719.
Warsaw was platted in 1837. The city was incorporated in 1843 and designated as the county seat of Benton County. The city was named after Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, in honor of the Revolutionary War hero Tadeusz Kościuszko, who was Polish and had also fought for independence in his homeland. Warsaw was a steamboat port, the furthest point up the Osage River they could navigate.
Passages that mention Warsaw, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A sketch of the history of Benton County, Missouri1876Read the page →
Read the text
1842, but not completed. Indeed the upper story was never finished inside till the Masons leased it, about 1868. The original cost of the Court House, as near as I can ascertain, was about $4,500. The town of Warsaw was incorporated, by order of the County Court, July 6, 1840, and D. C. Ballou, S. H. Whipple, S. A. Howser and J. M. Staley, appointed first Trustees. Feb. 23, 1843, the town was incorporated as a city, by an act of the Legislature, and the city government conducted under the charter till
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A sketch of the history of Benton County, Missouri1876Read the page →
Read the text
sippi and Missouri Elvers passed this point, and droves of stock were driven along this i-oute at an early day. This travel caused Mark Fristoe to start a rival ferry about a mile and a half below Bledsoe's, where Powers' Ferry now runs, at Warsaw. He opened a road diverging from the old road, and running across the ridge, just above Warsaw, which was the nearest road to the site of Warsaw until 1838.
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.
By decade
Warsaw, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Warsaw, census by census
Grew from 515 people in 1880 to 2,209 in 2020, 4 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Warsaw’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Warsaw’s history
What year was Warsaw founded?
In 1837, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Warsaw’s post office opened in 1839, and the census of 1880 counted 515 people here.
How does Warsaw rank for history?
Warsaw is more historic than 64% 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 Warsaw?
One place: the Upper Bridge (listed 1999).
How old are the homes in Warsaw?
8% of Warsaw’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1909
2012
2010
2004
