Founding year: the first Kayenta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Kayenta’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kayenta is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #88 of 140 in Arizona. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kayenta’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 Kayenta’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (29% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.9 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 Kayenta’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Kayenta yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Kayenta (Navajo: Tó Dínéeshzheeʼ, meaning "Fingers of Water" because of how water runs down the local rock formations when it rains) is a U.S. town which is part of the Navajo Nation and is in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. Established November 13, 1986, the Kayenta Township is unique in currently being the only "township" existing under the laws of the Navajo Nation. The population was 5,189 at the 2010 census. Kayenta is located at the junction of U.S. Route 160 and the southern end of U.S. Route 163. It is 25 miles (40 km) south of Monument Valley and contains a number of hotels and motels which serve visitors to Monument Valley. Like other places on the Navajo Nation, it is ille…
Its first post office opened in 1911. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 5,189 to 4,670 (-10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Kayenta, 1911 to 1982
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kayenta. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1968Kayenta West sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Kayenta.
Questions about Kayenta’s history
What year was Kayenta founded?
The Kayenta post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Kayenta rank for history?
Kayenta is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #88 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.
How old are the homes in Kayenta?
4% of Kayenta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1995.
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 (6), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
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