The story
Read it all →How Heyburn came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Heyburn.
The city was named after Weldon B. Heyburn, a U.S. senator for Idaho from 1903 to 1912.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
DHistory
History · Heyburn
Heyburn’s post office opened in 1905
More historic than 9% of U.S. towns · #55 of 59 in Idaho. What drives it
Most of Heyburn was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 1920.
1905first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Quick answers
How Heyburn began
When was Heyburn founded?
1905
The Heyburn post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 292 in 19202020 census: 3,700121 years
How historic is Heyburn?
D
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 9% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Heyburn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Heyburn’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Heyburn is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns, #55 of 59 in Idaho. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Heyburn’s overall grade.
Founding era1905, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 19404.3% of homes (±6.4) · typical ID town 8.5% · U.S. 8.4%CNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical ID town 8.4 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 9%
NewerOlder
Idaho towns of 2,500+ (59)Ahead of 7%
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 Heyburn’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 D. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.4 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 Heyburn’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Heyburn’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Heyburn’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Heyburn, census by census
Lost a third of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Heyburn’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Heyburn, 1905 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 20th century
- 1905
In the archiveHeyburn, Idaho (1905) - 1905Post officeThe Heyburn post office opens
- 1964
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 21st century
- 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 3,700
By decade
Heyburn, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1900s1 item
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumToday1 recent
2003On the map
Heyburn on the map, 1964 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Heyburn. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1964Burley SE 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 Heyburn.
Every building
Heyburn, building by building, 1911–1928
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.
1911Sheet 1 of 1Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewHeyburn, Idaho (1905), 1905
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Heyburn’s page.
Retake this view · +15Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Heyburn
Nobody well known was born in Heyburn itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Heyburn’s history
What year was Heyburn founded?
The Heyburn post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Heyburn rank for history?
Heyburn is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns, #55 of 59 in Idaho. 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 Heyburn?
4% of Heyburn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 8.5% for an Idaho town; the median home was built in 1981.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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), Wikipedia, 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.