Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns · #173 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1900.
The Columbia Heights post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Columbia Heights is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #173 of 273 in Minnesota. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Columbia Heights’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Columbia Heights’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Columbia Heights. 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 Columbia Heights.
From Wikipedia’s history of Columbia Heights.
Columbia Heights was formed as a village on March 14, 1898, when it separated from the former Fridley Township. On July 21, 1921, the Charter of the City of Columbia Heights was adopted and the city was formed.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJames D. La Belle is born here
In the archiveWilliam R. FosterOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2020Jackson Pond Aerial View
2020Jackson Pond Aerial View
2020Jackson Pond Aerial View
2020Jackson Pond Aerial View
2020Jackson Pond Aerial View
2020Jackson Pond Aerial View
2013Columbia Heights High School
2013CHHS Sculpture
2011City of Columbia Heights Public Library 2011
20092009-0610-006-ColumbiaHeights-TheHeights
20092009-0610-005-ColumbiaHeights-CHNo 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 Columbia Heights’ page.
Retake this view · +15Between 123 and 23,997 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Columbia Heights’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Columbia Heights had its own post office from 1898 to 1913.
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.
The Columbia Heights post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Columbia Heights is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #173 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.
11% of Columbia Heights’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1963.
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), 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) 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.
