Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns · #94 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
Most of Metzger was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Its Register listing is the Fogelbo House. Below: maps from 1916 on.
The Metzger post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Metzger is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #94 of 142 in Oregon. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Metzger’s 5.4 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% 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 Metzger’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Metzger. 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 Metzger.
From Wikipedia’s history of Metzger.
Herman Metzger platted the community, which was actively marketed from 1908–1909. The main line of the Oregon Electric Railway passed through the community, and had a stop that was located off Locust Street east of Jefferson.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs 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.
Nobody well known was born in Metzger itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Metzger had its own post office from 1912 to 1954.
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 Metzger post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Metzger is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns, #94 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 Fogelbo House (listed 2020).
5% of Metzger’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
