Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Adams Odd Fellows Hall and the Reese and Redman General Merchandise Store. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1900.
The Adams post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1893.
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 Adams’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1950, then more than doubled.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Adams’ 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.
1893Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Adams.
Adams was named for a local homesteader, John F. Adams. Adams post office was established in 1883. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 10, 1893.
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.
BuiltAdams Odd Fellows Hall is built
BuiltReese and Redman General Merchandise Store is built
In the archiveCascade Locks and Mt. Adams
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Adams. 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 Adams.
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 Adams’ 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.
Nobody well known was born in Adams itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Adams post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1893.
Two places: the Adams Odd Fellows Hall (listed 1994) and the Reese and Redman General Merchandise Store (1994).
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 (3), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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