Founding year: the first Hansen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hansen’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hansen is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hansen’s overall grade.
Idaho towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Idaho town has 8.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Hansen’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (14% of Idaho towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Hansen’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Early settlement in the area that would later become Hansen developed alongside transportation and freight routes that served travelers moving through southern Idaho in the late nineteenth century, including stops along the Oregon Trail and the Kelton Road, which supported migration, commerce, and supply traffic throughout the region.
The town was named in honor of the a settler and merchant known as John Hansen, a Danish immigrant who became a notable civic figure in the nearby town of Rock Creek. The city was plated in 1905, during a period when regional irrigation projects were expanding agricultural opportunities and encouraging the development of small communities throughout the Magic Valley.
The Hansen post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hansen rank for history?
Hansen is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Hansen?
18% of Hansen’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 8.5% for an Idaho town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2004
