Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Owyhee County Courthouse. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1994 on.
The Murphy post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Murphy’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Murphy.
Murphy developed around a railhead of the Boise, Nampa and Owyhee Railroad, built in 1899 by Colonel William H. Dewey. Dewey had planned to extend the railroad to Silver City, but when mining operations in the Owyhee Mountains became unproductive, the line was not continued past Murphy. The railroad operated until 1947.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
Nobody well known was born in Murphy itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Murphy post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Owyhee County Courthouse (listed 1982).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1994
2019
2019
2019
2019
2015