Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #35 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
42 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 65 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
The Faribault post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1855.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Faribault is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #35 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 Faribault’s 47.9 sits above most of its state (93% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 118 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% 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. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1884Sheet 3 of 6Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Faribault.
Faribault is regarded as one of Minnesota's most historic communities, with settlement and commercial activity predating Minnesota's establishment as a U.S. Territory. Until 1745, the area was primarily occupied by the Wahpekute band of Dakotah. Shortly thereafter, the tribe was driven south after several clashes with the Ojibwe over territory.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Faribault, cut from the printed page as they were published.
terminus, to the village of Preston, in Fillmore county, and fi'om thence to the village of Austin, in Mower county, to the village of Albert Lea, in Freeborn county, to the village of Blue Earth City in Faribault county, to the village of Fairmont, in Martin county, to the village of Jackson, in Jackson county, and thence to the west line of the State."
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
J. A. KlESTER, Esq., Dear Sir: 1 have your favor of the 9th inst., and id reply beg leave to state, that while I have no positive inforruatiun on that point, my strong impression is, that your county was named for Jean B. Faribault, lie having been one of the oldest of our pioneers, and reference to that fact being the basis upon which some of our counties were designated. You are right in the statement that the city of Faribault was named for his son, Alexander Faribault, who was the founder of the town and still resides there. 1 think you will not
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Senator for six years. At the expiration of his term of service he came to Minnesota and started the village of Shieldsville, but was soon induced to join the proprietors of the town of Faribault, where he was agent and attorney for the townsite company.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
(Minnesota Division) found the elevations of natural surface, where the railroad crosses the northern line of the county, to be over 1050 feet above the sea level. At Faribault depot it is 993 feet; at Dandas depot, 945 feet; at Northfield depot, 905 feet. The entire western half, and the southeastern portions of the county, have a higher elevation. I have no means of knowing positively
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.
BuiltAlexander Faribault House is builtBuiltPhelps Library, Shattuck School is built
Born hereFrederick Peterson is born hereBuiltCathedral of Our Merciful Saviour is built
In the archiveMN1893 pg054 STATE SCHOOL AT FAIRBAULT FOR THE FEEBLE MINDED
Born hereSid Smith is born here
Born hereTom Lieb is born here
In the archiveAlexanderBuiltNoyes Hall, State School for the Deaf is built
In the archiveCentral Avenue, Faribault Minnesota 1800s
In the archiveDowntown Faribault 1925
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereDonald Edward DeGrood is born here4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Faribault. 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 Faribault.
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 Faribault’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 3,045 people in 1870 to 24,453 in 2020, 8 times over.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Faribault’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Faribault’s post office has been open since 1853.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Faribault post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1855.
Faribault is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #35 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.
42 listings: 41 buildings, among them the Alexander Faribault House (listed 1970, the first), 1 historic district, the Faribault Historic Commercial District, with 65 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 118 historic buildings in all.
19% of Faribault’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (43), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
c. 1898
1907
