Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #18 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 21 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1880.
Bayport dates its founding to 1873 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bayport is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #18 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bayport’s 53.8 sits above most of its state (94% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 21 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Bayport’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bayport.
The City of Bayport began as three small settlements along the St. Croix River. In 1873, the St. Croix Railway Improvement Company combined the three settlements into South Stillwater, which was incorporated as a village in 1881. Because many people confused South Stillwater with the city of Stillwater, the city changed its name to Bayport in 1922.
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 - Minnesota - Washington County - Bayport - ED 82-3…
BuiltState Prison Historic District is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bayport. 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 Bayport.
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 Bayport’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 601 people in 1880 to 4,024 in 2020, 6 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bayport’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Bayport itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Bayport’s post office has been open since 1922. Another post office, South Stillwater, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1873, according to Wikidata. Bayport’s post office opened in 1873, and the census of 1880 counted 601 people here.
Bayport is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #18 of 273 in Minnesota. 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.
One place: the State Prison Historic District (listed 1986).
30% of Bayport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.3 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.
2024
2012
2008
2005
