Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #22 of 59 in Idaho. What drives it
17 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 711 buildings between them. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1907 on, and the census since 1910.
The Twin Falls post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Twin Falls is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #22 of 59 in Idaho. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Twin Falls’ 134 sits above most of its state (99% of Idaho towns have fewer) while its 724 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
From Wikipedia’s history of Twin Falls.
Excavations at Wilson Butte Cave near Twin Falls in 1959 revealed evidence of human activity, including arrowheads, that rank among the oldest dated artifacts in North America. Later Native American tribes predominant in the area included the Northern Shoshone and Bannock.
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.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Idaho - Twin Falls County - Twin Falls - ED 42-30…
In the archiveBickel SchoolBuiltBurton Morse House is built
In the archiveShoshone Falls, Idaho
Born hereMark Felt is born here
Born hereGrant Sawyer is born here
In the archiveIdahoBuiltLincoln School is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Twin Falls. 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 Twin Falls.
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.
1907Sheet 1 of 7Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Twin Falls’ page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 5,258 people in 1910 to 51,807 in 2020, 9 times over.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Twin Falls’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Twin Falls’s post office has been open since 1904.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Twin Falls post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Twin Falls is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #22 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.
17 listings: 12 buildings, 4 historic districts with 711 contributing buildings, and 1 object. 724 historic buildings in all.
11% of Twin Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 8.5% for an Idaho town; the median home was built in 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).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (17), Wikipedia, 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.
1880
1880
1880
1880
1911
1912
1913
1913
1913
1913
1913
1917
1917
