Founding year: the first Linden post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Linden’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Linden is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #81 of 140 in Arizona. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Linden’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 Linden’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 (±1.1 points) is firm at this size. 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 Linden’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 Linden yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Linden is an unincorporated community located in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, just west of the city of Show Low. It is situated atop the Mogollon Rim at an elevation of over 6,000 feet. The community was evacuated in June 2002 due to the Rodeo-Chediski fire, which eventually consumed part of Linden, destroying a number of homes. Linden is generally made up of larger ranches and rural subdivisions, including Cheney Ranch and Timberland Acres. As an unincorporated community with few businesses, many Linden residents make their livings in or around the city of Show Low. Linden's former fire district has been merged into the Timber Mesa Fire and Medical District, along with those of S…
Its first post office opened in 1891. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,597 to 2,760 (+6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Linden, 1891 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Linden post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Linden rank for history?
Linden is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #81 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 Linden?
0.0% of Linden’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1997.
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 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.
