Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #105 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
Most of Bayfield was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1910.
The Bayfield post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bayfield is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #105 of 159 in Colorado. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Colorado towns list much on the Register (a typical Colorado town has 1.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bayfield’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Colorado 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bayfield. 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 Bayfield.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bayfield.
The town derives its name from W.A. Bay, founder. The Bayfield, Colorado, post office opened on February 25, 1899, and the Town of Bayfield was incorporated on August 18, 1906.
On January 19, 1988, Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 crashed in Bayfield, killing nine of the 17 people aboard.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBayfield Wells CourtOne decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
1910Sheet 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 Bayfield’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 227 people in 1910 to 2,838 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bayfield’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Bayfield itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Bayfield’s post office has been open since 1899.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bayfield’s history is told.
The Bayfield post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Bayfield is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #105 of 159 in Colorado. 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.
1% of Bayfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1998.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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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