Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them the Fort Bayard Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 70 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1947 on, and the census since 2000.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Santa Clara is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
New Mexico towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical New Mexico town has 2.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Santa Clara’s 387 sits above most of its state (98% of New Mexico towns have fewer) while its 70 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% 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 Santa Clara’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Santa Clara yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Santa Clara is a village in Grant County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, Santa Clara had a population of 1,637. Today it is a bedroom community for nearby Silver City.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,686 to 1,637 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveTwo Mexican boys (spicks) in 4-round bout at Ft. Bayard, N.M
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Santa Clara. 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 Santa Clara.
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 Santa Clara’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,637 and 1,944 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Santa Clara’s Wikipedia page.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Santa Clara is more historic than 88% 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 Fort Bayard Historic District (listed 2002).
14% of Santa Clara’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 2.3% for a New Mexico 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 the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
★ Landmark
1919
1919