Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Emigrant was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: maps from 1955 on.
The Emigrant post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Fridley (1885), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Emigrant’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Emigrant.
Emigrant is situated very close to the site of defunct Yellowstone City, which was established in 1863 but eventually abandoned and replaced by Chico, sometimes called "Old Chico" or "Chico City," which is situated a few miles south at the mouth of Emigrant Gulch.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Emigrant. 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 Emigrant.
Nobody well known was born in Emigrant itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Emigrant’s post office has been open since 1911. Another post office, Fridley, 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 Emigrant post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.
