Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lincoln School · Photo: Hustvedt · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 25% of U.S. towns · #84 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Lincoln School. Most of Erie was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2008. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
Erie dates its founding to 1867 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Erie is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #84 of 159 in Colorado. Its National Register listings hold 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 Erie’s 0.3 sits near the middle of its state (46% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Erie. 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 Erie.
Erie’s post office has been open since 1871.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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.
1893Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Erie.
In the mid-1860s, coal was discovered in southwestern corner of Weld County in the Territory of Colorado. Erie was originally settled in 1867 and named after Erie, Pennsylvania, the former home of early settler Richard Van Valkenburg.
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 archiveChildren of Sam Lontine, miner, playing with their dog. Puritan Camp, Erie, Colorado
Born hereChris Eggleston is born here
Born hereJaccob Slavin is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2020Bird singing at dusk, Erie, Colorado, 26 July 2020
2019Town Hall Erie Colorado 03
2019Town Hall Erie Colorado 02
2019Town Hall Erie Colorado 01
2019Old Erie Colorado City Hall
2019Erie Parkway Looking North East
2019Erie Colorado Post Office
2019Erie Colorado Miner Memorial
2019Erie Colorado Miner Memorial 2
2019Erie Colorado 1889 Brick Building
2019E County Line Road 01
20191892 Enoch T. Vaughn House
2016Erie Municipal Airport
2016Baseline Road (Colorado)
2015Colorado National Guard Domestic Operations Response …
2015Colorado National Guard Domestic Operations Response …
2014Erie CO City Haall
2005COMap-doton-ErieNo 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 Erie’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Grew from 358 people in 1880 to 30,038 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Erie’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.
In 1867, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Erie’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1880 counted 358 people here.
Erie is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #84 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.
One place: the Lincoln School (listed 1981).
1% of Erie’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 2008.
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 (23), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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