Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #7 of 23 in North Dakota. What drives it
Most of Bismarck was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. 22 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 465 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1880.
Bismarck dates its founding to 1872 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
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, Bismarck is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #7 of 23 in North Dakota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
North Dakota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical North Dakota town has 2.8 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bismarck’s 64.3 sits above most of its state (93% of North Dakota towns have fewer) while its 486 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% 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. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Bismarck’s post office has been open since 1873. Another post office, Ewinton, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Bismarck.
For thousands of years, various indigenous peoples inhabited present-day central North Dakota. The historic Mandan Native American tribe occupied the area long before Europeans arrived. The Hidatsa name for Bismarck is mirahacii arumaaguash ("Place of the tall willows"); the Arikara name is ituhtaáwe [itUhtaáwe].
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bismarck, cut from the printed page as they were published.
city of Bismarck upon their progressiveness and energy. He was followed by Mr. Bright, general counsel of the system, who spoke felicitously along the same line of thought.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveFt. LincolnBuiltPatterson Hotel is built
In the archiveRailroad Station
Born hereEd Schafer is born here
Born hereKent Conrad is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJohn Hoeven is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bismarck. 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 Bismarck.
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.
1884Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn 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 Bismarck’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,758 people in 1880 to 73,622 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bismarck’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1872, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bismarck’s post office opened in 1873, and the census of 1880 counted 1,758 people here.
Bismarck is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #7 of 23 in North Dakota. 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.
22 listings: 17 buildings, 3 historic districts, the Bismarck Cathedral Area Historic District, the Downtown Bismarck Historic District and the Highland Acres Historic District, with 465 contributing buildings, and 2 sites. 486 historic buildings in all.
6% of Bismarck’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 7.2% for a North Dakota town; the median home was built in 1985.
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 Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (22), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1908
1909
1936
1936
