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C−History
History · Show Low

Show Low dates to 1870, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 24% of U.S. towns · #54 of 140 in Arizona. What drives it

Most of Show Low was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Its Register listing is the Abner Ellsworth House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1981 on, and the census since 1910.

1870founded
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Show Low’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Show Low began

When was Show Low founded?

1870

Show Low dates its founding to 1870 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1910.

First census: 201 in 19102020 census: 11,732156 years

How historic is Show Low?

C−

More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1880.
History grade

What drives Show Low’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Show Low is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #54 of 140 in Arizona. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Show Low’s overall grade.
Founding era1870, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±0.3) · typical AZ town 0.4% · U.S. 8.4%D−National Register1 listing, 0.8 per 10,000 residents · typical AZ town 0.1 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 24%
NewerOlder
Arizona towns of 2,500+ (140)Ahead of 62%

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 Show Low’s 0.8 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±0.3 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1870.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Show Low’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages6 hamlets and corners are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Show Low’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Show Low’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewArizona, varios 1989 07: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Show Low’s post office has been open since 1880.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Camptown Mobile Home ParkParadise Trailer ParkPine Shadows Mobile Home ParkRoundy CrossingTimberline Mobile Home CommunityVenture In Resort Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Josephine Goldwater Hospitalhospital
1cemetery inside Show Low
Show Low

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Show Low, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Show Low yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Show Low is a city in Navajo County, Arizona. It lies on the Mogollon Rim in east central Arizona, at an elevation of 6,345 feet (1,934 m). The city was established in 1870 and incorporated in 1953. According to the 2020 United States census, the population of the city was 11,732.

Show Low was established in 1870. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 10,660 to 11,732 (+10%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Show Low, 1870 to 1989

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870
    FoundingShow Low is established
  3. 1880Post officeThe Show Low post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1981On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1989In the archiveArizona, varios 1989 07
By decade

Show Low, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s1 item
Arizona, varios 1989 071989Arizona, varios 1989 07
1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today11 recent
Take a walk 130606-Z-TA763-0942013Take a walk 130606-Z-TA763-094Service members with the 91st Civil Support Team, Arizona National Guard, wearing protective clothing, prepare to enter…2013Service members with the 91st Civil Support Team, Ari…Members, right, with the 91st Civil Support Team (CST), Arizona National Guard use equipment to detect hazardous materi…2013Members, right, with the 91st Civil Support Team (CST…Meet up 130606-Z-TA763-0862013Meet up 130606-Z-TA763-086A member with the 91st Civil Support Team (CST), Arizona National Guard prepares data sample collection equipment durin…2013A member with the 91st Civil Support Team (CST), Ariz…A Service member, right, with the 91st Civil Support Team, Arizona National Guard prepares his suit for a building insp…2013A Service member, right, with the 91st Civil Support …Carrizo Junction, AZ, Gas Station Sunset, Gadisoh, N'deh be nih, Fort Apache Reservation, White Mountain Apache2011Carrizo Junction, AZ, Gas Station Sunset, Gadisoh, N'…AZ, View SW, N'deh be nih, U.S. 60-S.R. 77, 20112011AZ, View SW, N'deh be nih, U.S. 60-S.R. 77, 2011AZ, Caterpillar (Sulfur Butterfly^) ,November 4, 20112011AZ, Caterpillar (Sulfur Butterfly^) ,November 4, 2011ShowLow AZ from northwest2010ShowLow AZ from northwestShowLow AZ from northwest (cropped)2010ShowLow AZ from northwest (cropped)
On the map

Show Low on the map, 1981 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Show Low. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Show Low on the 1981 USGS mapShow Low on the 1998 USGS map1981Show Low sheet · 1:100,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Show Low.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Arizona, varios 1989 07
Retake this viewArizona, varios 1989 07, 1989

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Show Low’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Show Low

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Abner Ellsworth House
Abner Ellsworth House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late 19th and 20th Century Revival1
Colonial Revival1
All 1 listings
Abner Ellsworth HouseBuilding · listed 1997

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Show Low, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00019201940196019802000202011,732

Grew from 201 people in 1910 to 11,732 in 2020, more than tenfold.

10 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Show Low’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Wagon WheelIts storyD−LindenIts storyDWhite Mountain LakeIts storyD−Pinetop-LakesideIts storyD−

Questions about Show Low’s history

What year was Show Low founded?

In 1870, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Show Low’s post office opened in 1880, and the census of 1910 counted 201 people here.

How does Show Low rank for history?

Show Low is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #54 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 Show Low?

One place: the Abner Ellsworth House (listed 1997).

How old are the homes in Show Low?

0.0% of Show Low’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1997.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.