Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #9 of 41 in Alaska. What drives it
Most of Mill Bay was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1949 on.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mill Bay is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #9 of 41 in Alaska. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Alaska towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Alaska town has 3.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Mill Bay’s 10.9 sits above most of its state (79% of Alaska towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
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 Mill Bay’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mill Bay yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mill Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. As of the 2020 census, Mill Bay had a population of 4,216.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mill Bay. 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 Mill Bay.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mill Bay’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Mill Bay itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Mill Bay is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #9 of 41 in Alaska. 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.
Two places: the Kodiak Naval Operating Base and Forts Greely and Abercrombie (listed 1985) and the Fort Abercrombie State Historic Site (1970).
0.0% of Mill Bay’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.3% for an Alaska town; the median home was built in 2000.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
