Reno’s post office opened in 1868, and 67 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #6 of 42 in Nevada. What drives it
Most of Reno was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. 67 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Senator Francis G. Newland Home, a National Historic Landmark, and three historic districts with 482 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
The Reno post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Truckee Meadows (1862), Hunter's (1867) and Francis (1915), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 1,035 in 18702020 census: 264,165158 years
How historic is Reno?
B−
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Reno post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Reno’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Reno is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #6 of 42 in Nevada. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Reno’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Reno ranks #237 on History.
Few Nevada towns list much on the Register (a typical Nevada town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Reno’s 20.6 sits above most of its state (85% of Nevada towns have fewer) while its 562 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Reno’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Reno’s past
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. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
Aquinas SchoolschoolAuburnlocaleBillinghurst Junior High SchoolschoolBrooklynlocaleBrownslocaleCedarlocaleDoten SchoolschoolEnglish MilllocaleFrancis Post Officepost officeFrancis StationlocaleHome Garden SchoolschoolHunters Post Officepost officeMcKinley Park SchoolschoolO'Neils StationlocaleOld CedarlocaleOneidalocalePeavine Station Post Officepost officeReno Army Air Basemilitary
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Reno
Mountain ViewOur Mother of Sorrows Catholic
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Archaeological finds place the eastern border of the prehistoric Martis people in the Reno area. As early as the mid-1850s, a few pioneers settled in the Truckee Meadows, a relatively fertile valley through which the Truckee River made its way from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake. In addition to subsistence farming, these early residents could pick up business from travelers along the California Trail, which followed the Truckee westward, before branching off toward Donner Lake, where the formidable obstacle of the Sierra Nevada began.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Reno. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1950Reno sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Reno.
Every building
Reno, building by building, 1885–1918
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.
The Reno post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Reno rank for history?
Reno is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #6 of 42 in Nevada. 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.
What is on the National Register in Reno?
67 listings: 63 buildings, among them the Senator Francis G. Newland Home (a National Historic Landmark since 1963), 3 historic districts, the University of Nevada Reno Historic District, the Newlands Historic District and the E. Fourth Street Historic District, with 482 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 562 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Reno?
3% of Reno’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.3% for a Nevada town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (67), Wikipedia, 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.
★ Landmark
1900
1904![[View of Reno, Nevada]](https://images.townratings.com/story/10863/f23185a0032a286add2a-s.jpg)
c. 1908![[View of Reno, Nevada]](https://images.townratings.com/story/10863/73fc2ca30ec31626c538-s.jpg)
c. 1908
