Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns. What drives it
11 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 131 buildings between them. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1890.
Forsyth dates its founding to 1876 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Forsyth is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Montana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Montana town has 12.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Forsyth’s 816 sits above most of its state (98% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 141 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% 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 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.
Peaked at 2,553 in 1980; 1,647 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Forsyth’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Forsyth.
Forsyth was established as a settlement on the Yellowstone in 1876 as a steamboat landing supporting United States Army operations in the Indian Wars.
in 1882, Thomas Alexander traded land to the Northern Pacific Railway to start the town, and developed four buildings on main street.
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.
In the archiveForsyth, Mont. Yellowstone RiverBuiltRosebud County Courthouse is built
In the archiveForsyth MT 1st Presby PHS1040
In the archiveTruckload of tumbleweed
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1908Forsyth, Mont. Yellowstone River1923Forsyth MT 1st Presby PHS1040
1923Forsyth MT Presby PHS10411939Truckload of tumbleweed
1939Loading truck with tumbleweed
1939Loading sacks of poison grasshopper bait. Forsyth, Mo…
1939Sugar beet plant damaged by grasshoppers. Forsyth, Mo…
1939Preparing poison bait in grasshopper control program.…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Forsyth. 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 Forsyth.
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.
1897Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Forsyth’s page.
Retake this view · +15Forsyth’s post office has been open since 1882.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1876, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Forsyth’s post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1890 counted 308 people here.
Forsyth is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns. 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.
11 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Rosebud County Deaconess Hospital (listed 1979, the first), 2 historic districts, the Forsyth Main Street Historic District and the Forsyth Residential Historic District, with 131 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 141 historic buildings in all.
29% of Forsyth’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.2 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (6), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (11), 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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