RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Thornton ...

Thornton is located in Clay County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Thornton, you might consider that their post office opened in 1888.

Thornton is 750 feet [229 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: Thornton lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Thornton: 816 & 975<3>

Communities Also Named Thornton ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 28 communities that are also named Thornton - they are located in Alabama (2), Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho (2), Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Thornton.

Communities near Thornton ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Thornton.

  • Kansas City
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Overland Park
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
  • Kansas City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Independence
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Lee's Summit
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Shawnee
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Shawnee is located in Johnson County (KS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shawnee
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 66,298 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shawnee <4>
  • Blue Springs
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Lenexa
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Lenexa is located in Johnson County (KS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenexa
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 56,156 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lenexa <4>
  • Leawood
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Leawood is located in Johnson County (KS)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leawood
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 34,669 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leawood <4>
  • Liberty
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Thornton. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Thornton.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Thornton. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Thornton.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Thornton. See our Newspapers Page for Thornton.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Thornton ...

Looking for more information about Thornton? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Thornton, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Thornton.

Adding Thornton to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Thornton in the GNIS. For more information, see the Referenced GNIS Codes section on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Thornton was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Thornton post office opened in 1888. The Thornton post office closed in 1904.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Thornton.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Missouri's counties, including Clay, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Thornton - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 816 code has been Overlayed with the 975 area code. New phone numbers in the Thornton area will be assigned with one of these codes: 816 or 975. As a result, placing a call in the Thornton area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/