Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 12% of U.S. towns · #81 of 140 in Arizona. What drives it
Most of Sacaton was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2011. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1908 on.
The Sacaton post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Pima Agency (1875), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 12% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sacaton 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.
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 Sacaton’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.
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 Sacaton’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sacaton.
Sacaton is one and one-quarter miles west of the 1858–1861 location of the Socatoon Station of the Butterfield Overland Mail. The station was named for the nearby Maricopa village of Sacaton, four miles down the Gila from the station.
It was an adobe building established in 1858 on the Little Gila river also known as Capron's Rancho and was also a trading post.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sacaton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Sacaton’s post office has been open since 1871. Another post office, Pima Agency, 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 Sacaton post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Sacaton 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.
0.0% of Sacaton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 2011.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1908
1908
1908
2008
2005