Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Pedro Bay was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Its Register listing is the St. Nicholas Chapel. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1950.
The Pedro Bay post office opened in 1936, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Pedro Bay’s history is told.
Peaked at 65 in 1970; 43 people lived here in 2020.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pedro Bay’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pedro Bay.
The Dena'ina Athabascan people occupied the area around Pedro Bay historically. They warred with Russian fur traders over trade practices in the early 19th century.
The St. Nicholas Chapel in Pedro Bay is a historic Russian Orthodox church that is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
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.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pedro Bay.
1954Iliamna D-3 sheet · 1:63,360U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pedro Bay.
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.
Pedro Bay had its own post office from 1936 to 1966.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Pedro Bay post office opened in 1936, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the St. Nicholas Chapel (listed 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2018