Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns · #109 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Noerenberg Estate Barn. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1890.
Orono dates its founding to 1889 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Orono is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #109 of 273 in Minnesota. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Orono’s 1.2 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Orono’s history is told.
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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Orono. 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 Orono.
From Wikipedia’s history of Orono.
Orono was originally part of Excelsior Township. In 1868, it became part of Medina Township. Residents received permission from Hennepin County to form the independent town of Orono in 1889. It was incorporated as a city in 1955.
Orono is named after Orono, Maine, the hometown of early resident George A. Brackett.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Orono, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Cook s Bay, his claim lying on sec¬ tions 24 and 13, Minnetrista. John Carman, it will be recollected, was the first settler of Orono. The settlers of the northeastern part of the town and their locations in 1855 were about as follows: Ebenezer F.
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
In the archiveBig Island ParkOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Orono’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.
Grew from 872 people in 1890 to 8,315 in 2020, 9 times over.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Orono’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1889, according to Wikidata. Orono’s post office opened in 1898, and the census of 1890 counted 872 people here.
Orono is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #109 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 Noerenberg Estate Barn (listed 2015).
16% of Orono’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1982.
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), 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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