Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Emma Petznick and Otto Schade House. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1968 on, and the census since 1910.
The Bowman post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lowden (1907), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bowman is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Bowman’s 6.7 sits near the middle of its state (57% of North Dakota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Bowman’s history is told.
Peaked at 2,071 in 1980; 1,470 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bowman’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bowman.
Bowman was founded in 1907 at about the same time the railroad was extended to that point. The city took its name from Bowman County. A post office has been in operation at Bowman since 1907.
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 archiveMain St
In the archiveSod homestead near Bowman, North Dakota
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bowman. 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 Bowman.
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 Bowman’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Bowman’s post office has been open since 1907. Another post office, Lowden, 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).
The Bowman post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Bowman is more historic than 44% 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.
One place: the Emma Petznick and Otto Schade House (listed 2008).
23% of Bowman’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 7.2% for a North Dakota town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.
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