Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #13 of 159 in Colorado. What drives it
11 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 54 buildings. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1890.
Sterling dates its founding to 1868 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sterling is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #13 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 Sterling’s 48.6 sits above most of its state (87% of Colorado towns have fewer) while its 64 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% 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.
1899Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sterling.
A post office called Sterling has been in operation since 1874. The community was named for Sterling, Illinois, the native home of a railroad official.
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.
In the archiveSterling CityBuiltConrad Luft Sr. House is builtBuiltLogan County Courthouse is built
In the archiveA part of Main St. at nightBuiltSt. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church is built
Born hereDonald G. Brotzman is born here
Born hereCheri Jahn is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1910A part of Main St. at night
1910So. 2nd Street looking towards the court house
1911Sterling Co Mar 28 1911
1912St. Anthony's Church
1915Conrad Helmut's two girls, 6 and 8 yrs. old, pulling …
1915Family of Fred Karb and their mud shack - beet worker…
1915Jake is ten yrs old, Marie is 13, but neither could s…
1915Six-year old Jo, pulling beets for his parents on a f…
1915The 8 and 10 yr. old children here are working beets …Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sterling. 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 Sterling.
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 Sterling’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 540 and 14,777 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sterling’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Sterling’s post office has been open since 1874.
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.
In 1868, according to Wikidata. Sterling’s post office opened in 1874, and the census of 1890 counted 540 people here.
Sterling is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #13 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.
11 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Logan County Courthouse (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Downtown Sterling Historic District, with 54 contributing buildings. 64 historic buildings in all.
21% of Sterling’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 2.5% for a Colorado town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (11), 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.
