Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Smiths Ferry was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 15 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1953 on.
The Smiths Ferry post office opened in 1913, 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 Smiths Ferry’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Smiths Ferry.
A ferry at the river was established by Clinton Meyers in 1887 to transport livestock to summer pasture in the Round and Long Valleys across the river. Also popular with freighters, the ferry was sold by Meyers to Jim Smith in 1891, hence the name Smith's Ferry.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Smiths Ferry. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Smiths Ferry.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Smiths Ferry’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 Smiths Ferry itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Smiths Ferry had its own post office from 1913 to 1964.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Smiths Ferry post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the North Fork Payette River Bridge (listed 1999) and the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association (SITPA) Buildings (1990).
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 the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
Date?
Date?
