Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns · #33 of 140 in Arizona. What drives it
Most of Tempe was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. 53 places in town are on the National Register, among them seven historic districts with 194 buildings between them. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1890 on, and the census since 1880.
The Tempe post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Hayden's Ferry (1872) and Nephi (1889), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tempe is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns, #33 of 140 in Arizona. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Tempe ranks #266 on History.
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 Tempe’s 13.2 sits above most of its state (79% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 249 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Tempe’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
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 country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Tempe’s post office has been open since 1879. Two 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Tempe.
The Hohokam lived in this area and built canals to support their agriculture. They abandoned their settlements during the 15th century, with a few individuals and families remaining nearby.
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.
Born hereCarl Hayden is born here
In the archiveCampus, Normal School
BuiltTempe Concrete Arch Highway Bridge is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRobert Finch is born here
BuiltRose Eisendrath House is built
In the archiveState FSA (Farm Security Administration) family selectionist who has headquarters at Temp…
BuiltSandra Day O'Connor House is built
BuiltGrady Gammage Memorial Auditorium is built
Born herePau Tonnesen is born here
Born hereMarvin Bagley III is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tempe. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Tempe.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1890Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Tempe’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 135 people in 1880 to 180,587 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Tempe’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Tempe post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Tempe is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns, #33 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.
53 listings: 40 buildings, among them the Farmer-Goodwin House (listed 1972, the first), 7 historic districts with 194 contributing buildings, 3 sites, and 3 structures. 249 historic buildings in all.
0.4% of Tempe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (53), Wikipedia, 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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