Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns · #47 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
Most of Craig was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 16 old photos and papers, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1910.
The Craig post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Craig is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #47 of 159 in Colorado. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Craig’s 5.6 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% 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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
c. 1920CO Craig 1920
1920Craig School, Craig, Colo
1920Craig School
1920Craig High School football team
1941Craig, Colorado. Main street
1941"Doc" Conway, rancher from Craig, Colorado, talking t…
1941"Doc" Conway, rancher from Craig, Colorado talking to…
1941Dairy cow by hay feeding rack near Craig, Colorado
1941Dairy cow by hay feeding rack near Craig, Colorado
1941Dairy cow by hay feeding rack near Craig, Colorado
1941Main street of Craig, Colorado. A new and thriving bo…
1941Main street of Craig, Colorado. A new and thriving bo…
1941Hotel on main street of Craig, Colorado. A new and th…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Dairy cow by hay…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Dairy cow by hay…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Dairy cow by hay…The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Craig.
Craig was founded by William H. Tucker. The Craig, Colorado, post office opened on August 28, 1889. Craig was incorporated as a city on July 15, 1908. The town was named for one of the town's financial backers, Reverend William Bayard Craig (1848–1916).
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.
BuiltFirst National Bank Building is builtIn the archiveCO Craig 1920BuiltVanatta Apartments is builtIn the archiveCraig, Colorado. Main street
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltState Armory is builtThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Craig.
1969Craig sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Craig.
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 sheet.
1914Sheet 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 Craig’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 392 and 9,464 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Craig’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Craig’s post office has been open since 1889.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Craig post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Craig is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #47 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.
5 listings: 4 buildings and 1 structure.
8% of Craig’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (14), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
