Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #157 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of Golden Valley was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1966. Its Register listing is the Maternity Hospital. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1860.
Golden Valley dates its founding to 1886 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Golden Valley is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #157 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 Golden Valley’s 1.4 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% 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 Golden Valley’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1890, then grew more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Golden Valley’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Golden Valley. 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 Golden Valley.
From Wikipedia’s history of Golden Valley.
Golden Valley is located on the ancestral lands of the Dakota people. Ojibwe and Sioux tribes had encampments on nearby Medicine Lake. The first white settlers arrived in the early 1850s. Golden Valley was incorporated on December 17, 1886. In the early 20th century, it was mostly a farming community.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Golden Valley, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The village of Golden Valley was formed out of the northwest part of the town of Minneapolis, December 17th, 1886. Its northern and western boundaries are those of the former town, while its southern limit runs west from the upper end of Cedar Lake. Its area is 6,361 acres, and its
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and I. Dougherty organized the first district school ever held in the terri¬ tory now comprising the village of Golden Valley, of which W. H. Varner was director for many years. Hanna Rosella Varner was born in what is now Golden Valley Village, May 1st, 1859. William Henry Varner
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereKelly Lynch is born here
Born hereJordan Leopold is born here
2025Lines and Shadows - Flickr - Me in ME
2022Pumping Gas - Gas Pump - Gas Station
2021KYCR and KDIZ Radio Towers
2021Golden Valley Library 2021
2020The Liberty Apartments and Townhomes - Winnetka Avenue
2020Hidden Lakes Luxury Home - Golden Valley Real Estate …
2019Untitled photo
2018Golden Valley Library
2018General Mills World Headquarters
2016Wells Fargo Bank Sign Sunset
2016Rainy Strip Mall in
2016City of
2015Highway MN-100
2015Highway 55
2014Room with tv on 2014-05-06 22-20
20141968 Plymouth GTX
20141968 Plymouth GTX
20141968 Plymouth GTX
2013Down in the Valley
2012Wirth Lake
2009Golden Valley Minnesota deer in snow
20092009-0722-GeneralMills-hq
20092009-0611-006-BreckSchool
20092009-0611-005-BreckIce
2008May showers
2007GoldenValleyHennepin
2006ByerlysGVNo 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 Golden Valley’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Two other post offices 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 1886, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Golden Valley’s post office opened in 1891, and the census of 1860 counted 301 people here.
Golden Valley is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #157 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 Maternity Hospital (listed 1980).
3% of Golden Valley’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (30), 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.
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