The story
Read it all →How Willow Springs came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Willow Springs.
Willow Springs was named from its position at the site of a spring, surrounded by willows.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
CHistory
History · Willow Springs
Willow Springs’ post office opened in 1869, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1890.
1869first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Quick answers
How Willow Springs began
When was Willow Springs founded?
1869
The Willow Springs post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 1,535 in 18902020 census: 2,164157 years
How historic is Willow Springs?
C
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Willow Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Willow Springs’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Willow Springs is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Willow Springs’ overall grade.
Founding era1869, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194015.7% of homes (±7.6) · typical MO town 8.4% · U.S. 8.4%BNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical MO town 2.4 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 34%
NewerOlder
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 Willow Springs’ 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.6 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 Willow Springs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Willow Springs’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Willow Springs’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Every building
Willow Springs, building by building, 1893–1914
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.
1893Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Willow Springs, 1869 to 1976
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Willow Springs, decade by decade
2021
2021
2021
2021
2021On the map
Willow Springs on the map, 1976 to 2004
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Willow Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1976Willow Springs NW sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Willow Springs.
People over time
Willow Springs, census by census
Between 1,078 and 2,215 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Willow Springs’ Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →3 famous people were born in Willow Springs
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Willow Springs’s post office has been open since 1869.
Gone or out of use
Davis Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Willow Springs
Willow Springs City
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Willow Springs’ history
What year was Willow Springs founded?
The Willow Springs post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Willow Springs rank for history?
Willow Springs is more historic than 34% 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.
How old are the homes in Willow Springs?
16% of Willow Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1964.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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), 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.