Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Gabriel Vanslette · CC BY 3.0More historic than 32% of U.S. towns · #165 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Mendota Historic District, the Fort Snelling-Mendota Bridge and the Oheyawahe-Pilot Knob. Most of Mendota Heights was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1896 on, and the census since 1860.
More historic than 32% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mendota Heights is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #165 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 Mendota Heights’ 2.6 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Mendota Heights’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mendota 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 Mendota Heights.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mendota Heights yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mendota Heights ( men-DOH-tə) is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is a first-ring southern suburb of the Twin Cities. The population was 11,744 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 11,071 to 11,744 (+6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveMap of Dakota County from the 1874 Minnesota State Atlas
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltFort Snelling-Mendota Bridge is built
Born hereBecky Holder is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 454 people in 1860 to 11,744 in 2020, more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mendota Heights’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Mendota Heights is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns, #165 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.
Three places: the Mendota Historic District (listed 1970), the Fort Snelling-Mendota Bridge (1978) and the Oheyawahe-Pilot Knob (2017).
2% of Mendota Heights’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (3), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1874
2007
2007
2007