Rathdrum’s post office opened in 1881, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns · #39 of 59 in Idaho. What drives it
Its Register listings are the St. Stanislaus Kostka Mission, the Rathdrum State Bank and the Kootenai County Jail. Most of Rathdrum was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Rathdrum post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Rathdrum’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rathdrum is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #39 of 59 in Idaho. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rathdrum’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 Rathdrum’s 2.8 sits near the middle of its state (40% of Idaho towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 points) is firm at this size. 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 Rathdrum’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rathdrum’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Rathdrum, building by building, 1892–1912
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.
In the 1800s the town was initially called Westwood in honor of one of the founders of the town, a Pony Express rider and rancher, Charles Wesley Wood, also known as "Wes." But in 1881 the postmaster in the town was informed by the federal government that the town would need to change its name since it was already taken by another town in the territory. A local businessman, Michael M. Cowley, recommended the name "Rathdrum" from County Wicklow in Ireland, his place of birth.
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.
The Rathdrum post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Rathdrum rank for history?
Rathdrum is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #39 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 Rathdrum?
Three places: the St. Stanislaus Kostka Mission (listed 1977), the Rathdrum State Bank (1974) and the Kootenai County Jail (2001).
How old are the homes in Rathdrum?
3% of Rathdrum’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 8.5% for an Idaho town; the median home was built in 2005.
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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