Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Parks was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991.
The Parks post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Chalender (1883), Challender (1893) and Maine (1907), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Parks is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Parks’ 23.4 sits above most of its state (83% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Parks’s history is told.
Parks had its own post office from 1914 to 1957. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Parks yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Parks is a census-designated place (CDP) in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,188 at the 2010 census.
Its first post office opened in 1914. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,188 to 1,382 (+16%).
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.
Nobody well known was born in Parks itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Parks post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Parks is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. 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.
4 listings: 4 structures.
1% of Parks’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.0 points), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
2011
2011
