Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Towner County Courthouse. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1890.
The Cando post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.
Cando was named from the pioneers' "can do" spirit.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cando is more historic than 54% 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 Cando’s 8.6 sits near the middle of its state (59% 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.
Peaked at 1,566 in 1960; 1,117 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cando’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1908Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cando.
Cando was founded in 1884 as the seat of the newly formed Towner County. It was named from the pioneers' "can do" spirit. The Great Northern Railway was extended to Cando in 1888.
Just west of Cando, Dunkers Colony was founded by settlers from Indiana in 1894. The settlement later changed its name to Zion, and all that is left today is a cemetery west of Cando.
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 archiveThe country photographer
In the archiveTowner County Courthouse
Born hereDick Armey is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2009Cando, North Dakota
2008Old School House on US HWY 281Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cando. 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 Cando.
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 Cando’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
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.
The Cando post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Cando is more historic than 54% 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 Towner County Courthouse (listed 1985).
17% of Cando’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 7.2% for a North Dakota town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (19), the Library of Congress (5), 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), 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.
1902
1909
1909
1913
1913
