Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #221 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of North Oaks was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Its Register listing is the Hill's James, J., North Oaks Farm, Dairy Building and the Hill's, James J., North Oaks Farm, Dairy Building, Granary Root Cellar and Auxiliary Buildings, Boundary Increase. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1960.
North Oaks first appears in the census in 1960.
More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, North Oaks is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #221 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 North Oaks’ 5.8 sits above most of its state (65% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first census (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 North Oaks’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of North Oaks. 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 North Oaks.
From Wikipedia’s history of North Oaks.
Structured around Pleasant Lake, the area began as a water source for the Saint Paul municipal water system, which still maintains water access rights today. The land was later purchased by Saint Paul magnate James J. Hill in 1883 and expanded into a 5,000-acre (20 km2) breeding and hobby farm.
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.
BuiltHill's James, J., North Oaks Farm, Dairy Building is built
BuiltHill's, James J., North Oaks Farm, Dairy Building, Granary Root Cellar and Auxiliary Buil…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereSydney Brodt is born here
Born hereJoe Alt is born hereWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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 803 people in 1960 to 5,272 in 2020, 6 times over.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on North Oaks’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The North Oaks post office opened in 1960, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
North Oaks is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #221 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.
1 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Hill's James, J., North Oaks Farm, Dairy Building (listed 1997, the first). 3 historic buildings in all.
2% of North Oaks’ 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 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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.
