Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #159 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of Becker was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Its Register listing is the Herbert M. Fox House. Its Register listing is the Herbert M. Fox House. Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1910.
Becker dates its founding to 1867 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1910.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Becker is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #159 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Becker’s 2.0 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Becker’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Becker.
Becker was platted in 1867, and named for George Loomis Becker, a state legislator. A post office called Becker has been in operation since 1870.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Becker, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first school in Becker County, outside the reservation was taught by Miss Nancy M. Comstock, in the fall of 1871, in a house belonging to Henry Way, in what is now school district number three in Audubon Township. The first school taught in Becker Count}^ in a legally organized school district, was in district number one in the village of Detroit, by Miss Lottie Frank, beginning on the second day of July 1872.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in company with a friend, Wm. Redpath, for the distant West reaching Minnesota in 1870. From Little Sauk near St. Cloud their journey was by ox team there being no railroad west of that place at that time. He settled in Becker County and filed on the land that now forms the homestead upon which he built one of the first houses in the county. He also assisted in the construction of the first sawmill erected in these parts, on the Otter Tail River, and afterwards sold it to R. L. Frazee. It was most interesting to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltHerbert M. Fox House is built
Born hereJohn W. Cox is born here
Born hereLloyd C. Hawks is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Becker. 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 Becker.
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.
Grew from 210 people in 1910 to 4,877 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Becker’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Becker’s post office has been open since 1870. Another post office, Pleasant Valley, 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 1867, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Becker’s post office opened in 1866, and the census of 1910 counted 210 people here.
Becker is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #159 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 Herbert M. Fox House (listed 1980).
5% of Becker’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1997.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
