Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #77 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
Most of Damascus was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Its Register listing is the Damascus School. Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 2000.
The Damascus post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 2004. Another post office, Stone (1896), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Damascus is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #77 of 142 in Oregon. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Damascus’ 0.9 sits near the middle of its state (38% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Damascus’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Damascus. 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 Damascus.
From Wikipedia’s history of Damascus.
According to Oregon Geographic Names, Damascus can date its existence as a community back to 1867, when a post office by that name was established. That post office was closed in 1904. The original heart of the community is along Oregon Route 212, which as of 2004 served as part of the city's southern boundary.
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.
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.
Between 9,022 and 11,050 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Damascus’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Damascus itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Damascus had its own post office from 1867 to 1904. Another post office, Stone, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Damascus post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 2004.
Damascus is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #77 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.
One place: the Damascus School (listed 1980).
7% of Damascus’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
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