Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Aetheling · Public domainMore historic than 42% of U.S. towns · #55 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
Most of Louisville was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
Louisville dates its founding to 1877 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Louisville is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #55 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 Louisville’s 7.7 sits above most of its state (68% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 16 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Louisville.
The town of Louisville dates back to the start of the Welch Mine in 1877, the first coal mine in an area of Boulder and Weld counties known as the Northern Coalfield. The town was named for Louis Nawatny, a local landowner who platted his land and named it for himself. Incorporation came several years later in 1882.
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.
BuiltGinacci House is built
In the archiveStrikers in
In the archiveColorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJack D. Fischer is born here
Born hereHilary Cruz is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Louisville. 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 Louisville.
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 Louisville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 450 people in 1880 to 21,226 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Louisville’s Wikipedia page.
Louisville’s post office has been open since 1878.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1877, according to Wikidata. Louisville’s post office opened in 1878, and the census of 1880 counted 450 people here.
Louisville is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #55 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.
12 listings: 12 buildings, among them the Denver Elevator-Grain Elevator (listed 1986, the first). 16 historic buildings in all.
4% of Louisville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 (12), Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (12), 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.
1910s![Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/1903/4bc8a6b0a0f163c1cab7-s.jpg)
1940![Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/1903/aa0d98832407c29094bd-s.jpg)
1940![Colorado [Adams County - Las Animas County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/1903/04e2ffd065fda6f90216-s.jpg)
1940
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