Grants Pass’ post office opened in 1865, and 24 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #46 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
Most of Grants Pass was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. 24 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 15 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Grants Pass post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Grants Pass’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grants Pass is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #46 of 142 in Oregon. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Grants Pass’ 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 Grants Pass’ 9.9 sits above most of its state (70% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 39 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 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 Grants Pass’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
1888Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The Takelma Native American tribe was the original inhabitant population of the region.
Early Hudson's Bay Company hunters and trappers, following the Siskiyou Trail, passed through the site beginning in the 1820s. In the late 1840s, settlers following the Applegate Trail began traveling through the area on their way to the Willamette Valley. The city states that the name was selected to honor General Ulysses S. Grant's incredible success in the Vicksburg Campaign. The Grants Pass post office was established on March 22, 1865. The city of Grants Pass was incorporated in 1887.
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.
The Grants Pass post office opened in 1865, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Grants Pass rank for history?
Grants Pass is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #46 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 Grants Pass?
24 listings: 21 buildings, among them the Newman United Methodist Church (listed 1977, the first), 2 historic districts, the Grants Pass G Street Historic District and the Riverside Park, with 15 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 39 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Grants Pass?
8% of Grants Pass’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (2), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (24), 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.
1906
