The story
Read it all →How Stanton came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Stanton.
The town was named for Edwin M. Stanton, the United States Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Stanton
Stanton’s post office opened in 1880, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 2000.
1880first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Stanton began
When was Stanton founded?
1880
The Stanton post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 1,003 in 20002020 census: 907146 years
Founding year: the first Stanton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Stanton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Stanton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Stanton’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Stanton, 1880 to 1950
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1880Post officeThe Stanton post office opens
- 20th century
- 1913Post officeThe Stanton post office closes
- 1950
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Stanton on the map, 1950 to 1975
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Stanton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1950Deer Park sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Stanton.
People over time
Stanton, census by census
Between 900 and 1,003 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Stanton’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Stanton
Nobody well known was born in Stanton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
J
John McNallyAmerican football player and coach · b. 1903S
Sam LofquistAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1990
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone
Stanton had its own post office from 1880 to 1913.
Stanton
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Riverside
Gone or out of use
Grandview SchoolschoolLowland SchoolschoolMeadowdale SchoolschoolPrairie View Schoolschool
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Stanton’s history
What year was Stanton founded?
The Stanton post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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.