Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Gerlach Water Tower. Below: maps from 1964 on.
Gerlach dates its founding to 1906 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1909.
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 Gerlach’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Gerlach.
Gerlach was founded in 1906 during the construction of the Feather River Route of the Western Pacific Railroad. The Gerlach Post Office opened on October 27, 1909.
Gerlach was named for the Gerlach Land and Cattle Company, owned by Louis Gerlach.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2013On The Playa
2013Gerlach, Nevada Historical Marker No. 152
2013Gerlach, Nevada Historical Marker No. 152
2013Gerlach, Nevada
2013Gerlach, Nevada
2013Gerlach, Nevada
2013Gerlach, Nevada
2013Gerlach, Nevada
2013Gerlach, Nevada
2013Gerlach, Nevada
2013Gerlach Sunset
2013Gerlach
2013Gerlach - panoramio (8)
2013Gerlach - panoramio (7)
2013Gerlach - panoramio (6)
2013Gerlach - panoramio (4)
2013Gerlach - panoramio (2)
2013Gerlach - panoramio (1)
2013Bruno's Country Club
2013Bruno's Country Club
2013Approaching
2013America's Solar Highway - panoramio (49)
2013America's Solar Highway - panoramio (48)
2012Marsh along Gerlach train track, presumably effluent …
2012Free rangers
2010Hot spring in
2008Washoe CR 34
2008Krispity krustity
2008Kluft-photo-CR447-Gerlach-NV-Img 1681
2008Kluft-photo-CR447-Gerlach-NV-Img 1575Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gerlach. 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 Gerlach.
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.
In 1906, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Gerlach’s post office opened in 1909.
One place: the Gerlach Water Tower (listed 1981).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (30), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
