Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #78 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
Most of Gresham was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 1910.
The Gresham post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1905. Six smaller post offices, Powell's Valley (1873), Rockwood (1882) and Camp Ground (1884), opened inside today’s city 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, Gresham is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #78 of 142 in Oregon. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Gresham ranks #295 on History.
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 Gresham’s 1.2 sits near the middle of its state (40% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 13 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Gresham’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
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.
Gresham’s post office has been open since 1884. Six other post offices 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gresham’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Gresham.
Prior to settlement, the first documented inhabitants of the Gresham area were Kalapuya Native Americans, who lost a majority of their population to disease by the 1830s.
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.
In the archiveE. P. Smith, Proprietor Box 30 Gresham Oregon - Est. 1888 grower and dealer in fruit tree…
In the archiveGresham Grade School (Oregon), 1901
Born hereFrances Shelley Wees is born hereBuiltGresham Carnegie Library is built
In the archiveGresham 1918BuiltLouise Home Hospital and Residence Hall is builtBuiltDavid and Marianne Ott House is built
BuiltRoy E. and Hildur L. Amundsen House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereSirena Irwin is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gresham.
1970Damascus sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Gresham.
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.
1911Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Gresham’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 510 people in 1910 to 114,247 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gresham’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Gresham post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1905.
Gresham is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #78 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.
10 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Jacob Zimmerman House (listed 1986, the first). 13 historic buildings in all.
3% of Gresham’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (3), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (10), 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.
