Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #33 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Batcher Opera House Block and the Northern Pacific Railway Depot and Freighthouse. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1890.
The Staples post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Presto (1890), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Staples is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #33 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 Staples’ 13.2 sits above most of its state (80% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% 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 Staples’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.
1894Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Staples.
Staples developed around a sawmill. The settlement was originally called Staples Mill, and under the latter name was platted in 1889, and named for Samuel and Isaac Staples, businessmen in the lumber industry.
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.
BuiltNorthern Pacific Railway Depot and Freighthouse is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereDavid Joerger is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Staples. 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 Staples.
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.
Between 585 and 3,104 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Staples’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Staples’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Presto, 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.
The Staples post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Staples is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #33 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.
Two places: the Batcher Opera House Block (listed 2004) and the Northern Pacific Railway Depot and Freighthouse (2008).
33% of Staples’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.1 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (6), Wikidata (2), 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), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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