Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Blue Springs was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1900.
The Blue Springs post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1888.
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 Blue Springs’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1900 and 1960, then grew 4-fold.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blue Springs’ Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Blue Springs.
Blue Springs was established in 1888 as a stop along the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad. Many of the first residents were from the older nearby community of Ellistown, which had been bypassed by the railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blue Springs. 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 Blue Springs.
Nobody well known was born in Blue Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Blue Springs post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1888.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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