Founding year: the first Gladstone post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1911.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Gladstone’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Gladstone is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #86 of 142 in Oregon. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Gladstone’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 Gladstone’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (18% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1911.
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 Gladstone’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Prior to European settlement, there were several Native American groups living in the area that was to become Gladstone.
In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory and beyond. Although the expedition passed only near the Gladstone – Oregon City locality on their way to and from the Pacific Ocean, via the Columbia River, natives such as the Kalapuya and the Clackamas people told them about the area.
In the subsequent years, successive waves of explorers and traders would introduce epidemics of cholera and smallpox, which would take a heavy toll on the native peoples and contributed to a substantial reduction in population.
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 Gladstone post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1911.
How does Gladstone rank for history?
Gladstone is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #86 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.
How old are the homes in Gladstone?
11% of Gladstone’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (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), 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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