Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #204 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Willard was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1960.
The Willard post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Willard is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #204 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Willard’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 Willard’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Willard.
The city of Willard was founded in 1884 and incorporated in 1949. Willard's main east–west road, U.S. 160, is known as Olympian Boulevard because two graduates of Willard High School have participated in the Olympics. Although the town remains relatively small in size, the city of Willard has undergone considerable growth in recent years and still continues to grow.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Willard, cut from the printed page as they were published.
tains alone, carrying his clothes in a pillow-case. He was employed by a man named Day at Jackson, Breathitt county, Kentucky, and helped survey a railroad in the Cumberland mountains under Captain Kelton, who surveyed and built the Frisco railroad through Willard, Greene county, the road being known as the Bolivar branch, terminating at the countyseat of Polk county, until it was built on north many years later to connect the Blair line at Osceola. He also attended school at Hazelgreen.
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.
Weddings 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 Willard. 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 Willard.
Grew from 357 people in 1960 to 6,344 in 2020, more than tenfold.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Willard’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Willard post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Willard is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #204 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.
4% of Willard’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1998.
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, 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 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.
