Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns · #31 of 42 in Montana. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Target Range Elementary School. Most of Orchard Homes was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1964 on and the census since 1980.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Orchard Homes is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #31 of 42 in Montana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Orchard Homes’ 1.8 sits near the middle of its state (35% of Montana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Orchard Homes’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Orchard Homes yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Orchard Homes is a census-designated place (CDP) in Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is part of the Missoula metropolitan area. The population was 5,377 at the 2020 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,197 to 5,377 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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 Orchard Homes. 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 Orchard Homes.
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 5,197 and 10,837 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Orchard Homes’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Orchard Homes itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Orchard Homes is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #31 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.
One place: the Target Range Elementary School (listed 2011).
4% of Orchard Homes’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 13% for a Montana town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
