Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the United Church of Christ, the Van Osdel House and the Larson-Simonson House. Below: maps from 1957 on and the census since 1920.
The Mission Hill post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1913. Another post office, La Grange (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Mission Hill’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mission Hill.
Mission Hill was laid out in 1894. The town was named for a nearby hill where a church stood. A post office called Mission Hill has been in operation since 1892.
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.
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 Mission Hill. 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 Mission Hill.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 161 and 197 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mission Hill’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Mission Hill itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Mission Hill’s post office has been open since 1892. Another post office, La Grange, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Mission Hill post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1913.
Three places: the United Church of Christ (listed 1980), the Van Osdel House (1980) and the Larson-Simonson House (1980).
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
