Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Lostine Pharmacy. Below: maps from 1957 on and the census since 1910.
The Lostine post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1903.
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 Lostine’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lostine.
Lostine was named after a place by the same name in Cherokee County, Kansas, that served as the site of a short-lived farmers' post office in the 1870s. Lostine, Oregon, established a post office in August 1878; W.R. Laughlin was the first postmaster. Lostine was platted in 1884.
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.
BuiltLostine Pharmacy is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lostine. 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 Lostine.
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 176 and 263 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lostine’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Lostine itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Lostine post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1903.
One place: the Lostine Pharmacy (listed 2014).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), 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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