Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #98 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Perham Village Hall and Fire Station. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1880.
The Perham post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Perham is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #98 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 Perham’s 2.8 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Perham’s history is told.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Perham.
Perham was platted in 1873 and named for Josiah Perham, first president of the Northern Pacific Railway. As the village grew in economic importance, the surrounding township was renamed Perham Township in 1877. Perham was incorporated in 1881.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Perham, cut from the printed page as they were published.
coming to Otter Tail county. .Minnesota, where he made his home. In the fall of 1872, he established his home in Otter Tail county, where he became a successful agriculturist and a valued citizen. His first place of residence in the county was in the township of Perham where he homesteaded forty acres of land near St. Joseph's church. He sold this land and moved to eighty acres in Edna township, where he spent some time before going to a farm in Silver Leaf township. Becker county. He sold the farm in 1904 and moved to Frazee, where he passed away. His death occurred March 4.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
of work from January, 1902, until February. 1904, when he traveled for the Marshall-Wells Hardware Company, through North Dakota. In 1904 Air. Shea entered in the employment of the bank at Perham and is now acting as cashier of the State Bank of Perham, where his ability has received marked recognition.
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.
2017Tuffy's Pet Foods Plant
2017City of Perham, Minnesota - Train Sign
2013Fishing At Dawn 1
2010Perham, MN 4643564193 o
2010Perham Minnesota Forest
2006Perham, Minnesota Clouds and Field
2006Perham Rail
2006Perham Minnesota Rail Railroad Line 2282179148 o
2006Perham Grass
2006Perham Fire
2006Perham
2006Perham
2006Perham
2006Perham
2006Perham
2006Campfire
2006Camp FireEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Perham. 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 Perham.
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 269 people in 1880 to 3,512 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Perham’s Wikipedia page.
Perham’s post office has been open since 1872.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Perham post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Perham is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #98 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 Perham Village Hall and Fire Station (listed 1986).
17% of Perham’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (17), Wikidata (1), 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, 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.
