Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #21 of 42 in Montana. What drives it
14 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 58 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1920.
The Hardin post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hardin is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #21 of 42 in Montana. 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 Hardin’s 206 sits above most of its state (85% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 77 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% 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 Hardin’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hardin.
The city was named for Samuel Hardin (1846-1921), a friend of developer Charles Henry Morrill. It was incorporated in 1911. Thomas D. Campbell operated the nation's largest wheat farm on 95,000 acres near here and pioneered the use of industrial machinery in farming. The Holly Sugar Corporation established a sugar beet–processing plant in Hardin in 1937.
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.
BuiltJames J. Sullivan House is built
Born herePhyllis Gutierrez Kenney is born here
Born hereTim Fox is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereKroy Biermann is born here
2022Hay rolls in a field near Hardin in eastern Montana
2022Hay rolls in a field near Hardin in eastern Montana
2022Scene along the Bighorn River near Hardin in eastern …
2022Scene along the Bighorn River near Hardin in eastern …
2022Scene along the Bighorn River near Hardin in eastern …
2013Coal
2005MTMap-doton-Hardin
2004Southwest portal; view to west-northeast - Toluca Ove…
2004Southeast side; view to west - Toluca Overpass, Spann…
2004Southeast side; view to northwest - Toluca Overpass, …
2004Southeast side; view to north - Toluca Overpass, Span…
2004Overview; view to southwest - Toluca Overpass, Spanni…
2004Northwest side; view to south - Toluca Overpass, Span…
2004Northwest side; view to east - Toluca Overpass, Spann…
2004Northeast portal; view to east-southwest - Toluca Ove…
2004Detail; underside and bent no. 2; view to northeast -…
2004Detail; bent no. 1; northwest - Toluca Overpass, Span…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hardin. 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 Hardin.
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.
1910Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Grew from 1,312 people in 1920 to 3,818 in 2020.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hardin’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Hardin’s post office has been open since 1907.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Hardin post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Hardin is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #21 of 42 in Montana. 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.
14 listings: 12 buildings and 2 historic districts, the Commercial District and the Residential District, with 58 contributing buildings. 77 historic buildings in all.
20% of Hardin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.8 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (12), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (14), 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.
