On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wilhoit is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wilhoit’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 Wilhoit’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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±2.3 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Wilhoit’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In the mid-1920s, a road was being built to connect Phoenix and Prescott, by way of Congress and Yarnell. There, a man by the name of Frank Wilhoit (1891-1964) built culverts for the road, and then later homesteaded that area with his wife, Christina Wilhoit (1889-1975). The Wilhoit family then built a gas station and garage on one side of the road, and a restaurant on the other. Mr. Wilhoit operated the garage and Mrs. Wilhoit operated the restaurant which remained busy, as foreigners to the town needed a place to eat, and that they also needed an auto-garage considering tires in the 1920s did not hold up well on gravel roads. Mr. and Mrs. Wilhoit would later leave the area and move to Wickenburg around 1930, but the small area retained the name and the area later evolved into a place well known for its mobile homes.
Wilhoit is more historic than 4% 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.
How old are the homes in Wilhoit?
0.0% of Wilhoit’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (1), Wikipedia 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.
1991
