Orofino dates to 1895, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #8 of 59 in Idaho. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 25 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1910 on, and the census since 1910.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Orofino is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #8 of 59 in Idaho. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Orofino’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 Orofino’s 79.8 sits above most of its state (94% of Idaho towns have fewer) while its 26 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.4 points). Two sources give 1895.
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 →
What stands out about Orofino’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The story so far
Orofino, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Orofino yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Orofino oro-FEE-noh; ("fine gold" [ore] in Spanish) is a city in and the county seat of Clearwater County, Idaho, United States, along Orofino Creek and the north bank of the Clearwater River. It is the major city within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. The population was 2,656 at the time of the 2020 census. Nearby is the historical "Canoe Camp," where the Lewis and Clark expedition built five new dugout canoes and embarked on October 7, 1805, downstream to the Pacific Ocean. Some four miles (6 km) north is the Dworshak Dam, third-highest dam in the United States, completed in the early 1970s. Nearby is the Dworshak National Fish Hatchery, started to try to compensate for the loss of migr…
Orofino was established in 1895. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,142 to 2,656 (-15%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Orofino, 1895 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Orofino. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1967Orofino West sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Orofino.
Every building
Orofino, building by building, 1910–1914
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.
1910Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
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 viewIdaho - Lowman through, 1931
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Orofino’s page.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Orofino’s history
What year was Orofino founded?
In 1895, according to Wikidata. Orofino’s post office opened in 1898, and the census of 1910 counted 384 people here.
How does Orofino rank for history?
Orofino is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #8 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.
What is on the National Register in Orofino?
Two places: the Orofino Historic District (listed 1982) and the US Post Office-Orofino Main (1989).
How old are the homes in Orofino?
12% of Orofino’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 8.5% for an Idaho town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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