Bisbee’s post office opened in 1880, and 58% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #1 of 140 in Arizona. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Phelps Dodge General Office Building, a National Historic Landmark, and three historic districts with 1,178 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1901 on, and the census since 1890.
The Bisbee post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Don Luis (1903) and Warren (1907), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 1,535 in 18902020 census: 4,923146 years
How historic is Bisbee?
A
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Bisbee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bisbee’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bisbee is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #1 of 140 in Arizona. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bisbee’s overall grade.
Few Arizona towns list much on the Register (a typical Arizona town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bisbee’s 2,417 sits above most of its state (100% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 1,203 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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 →
What stands out about Bisbee’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
Bisbee was founded as a copper, gold, and silver mining town in 1880, and named in honor of Judge DeWitt Bisbee, one of the financial backers of the adjacent Copper Queen Mine.
In 1929, the county seat was moved from Tombstone to Bisbee, where it remains.
Mining in the Mule Mountains proved quite successful: in the early 20th century the population of Bisbee soared. Incorporated in 1902, by 1910 its population had swelled to 9,019, the third largest in the territory, and it sported a constellation of suburbs, including Warren, Lowell, and San Jose, some of which had been founded on their own (ultimately less successful) mines. In 1917, open-pit mining was successfully introduced to meet the copper demand during World War I.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings 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 Bisbee. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1902Bisbee sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bisbee.
Every building
Bisbee, building by building, 1901–1930
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The Bisbee post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Bisbee rank for history?
Bisbee is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #1 of 140 in Arizona. 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.
What is on the National Register in Bisbee?
10 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Phelps Dodge General Office Building (a National Historic Landmark since 1983), 3 historic districts, the Bisbee Historic District, the Bisbee Residential Historic District and the Warren Historic District, with 1,178 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 1,203 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Bisbee?
58% of Bisbee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (10), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
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c. 1909
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