Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #97 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of St. Joseph was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 14 buildings. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1880.
St. Joseph dates its founding to 1854 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Joseph is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #97 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 St. Joseph’s 24.2 sits above most of its state (86% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 17 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% 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 St. Joseph’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of St. Joseph.
Originally home to the native Dakota people until the signing of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, St. Joseph was laid out in 1855.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention St. Joseph, cut from the printed page as they were published.
lature was approved, designed to bring the several towns and additions under one name."^ The act declared: "That the name of the town of St. Joseph Iron Works and the name of the town of Indiana City, in St. Joseph county, be, and the same are hereby changed to that of Mishawaka ; and that all the lots now laid
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Sec. 4. — South Bend the County Seat. — We have seen, in chapter fifth of this work, that the town of St. Joseph, as laid out by William Brookfield at the old portage, was the first county seat of St. Joseph county; that, on petition of the people of the county, the legislature, by an act approved February 1, 1831, appointed commissioners to re-locate
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.
BuiltChurch of St. Joseph-Catholic is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Joseph. 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 St. Joseph.
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 292 people in 1880 to 7,029 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Joseph’s Wikipedia page.
Another post office, Clinton, 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 1854, according to Wikidata. St. Joseph’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1880 counted 292 people here.
St. Joseph is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #97 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 Church of St. Joseph-Catholic (listed 1982), the First State Bank (1982) and the St. Benedict's Convent and College Historic District (1989).
7% of St. Joseph’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1992.
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), Wikipedia, 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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