Baker City’s post office opened in 1866, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #5 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 74 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1967 on, and the census since 1870.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Baker City is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #5 of 142 in Oregon. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Baker City’s overall grade.
Oregon towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Oregon town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Baker City’s 77.4 sits above most of its state (93% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 79 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1874 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Baker City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Platted in 1865, Baker City grew slowly in the beginning. A post office was established on March 27, 1866, but Baker City was not incorporated until 1874. Even so, it supplanted Auburn as the county seat in 1868. The city and county were named in honor of U.S. Senator Edward D. Baker, the only sitting senator to be killed in a military engagement. He died in 1861 while leading a failed charge of 1,700 Union Army soldiers up a ridge at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, during the American Civil War.
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.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Baker City had its own post office from 1866 to 1911.
Baker City
1866–1911
Baker
1911–today
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Estes
Gone or out of use
Churchill SchoolschoolSaint Francis High Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Baker City
Baker City ChineseMount HopeSaint Francis de Sales Catholic
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Baker City’s history
What year was Baker City founded?
The Baker City post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1874.
How does Baker City rank for history?
Baker City is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #5 of 142 in Oregon. 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 Baker City?
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Baker Municipal Natatorium (listed 1977, the first), and 1 historic district, the Baker Historic District, with 74 contributing buildings. 79 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Baker City?
38% of Baker City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (6), 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) 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.
1874
2007
2004
