Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #15 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
17 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 19 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
Pendleton dates its founding to 1851 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pendleton is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #15 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 Pendleton’s 22.4 sits above most of its state (82% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 38 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Pendleton’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.
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.
1884Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pendleton.
A group of European explorers led by Wilson Price Hunt were spotted camping near modern-day Pendleton by a band of Native Americans on January 8, 1812.
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.
Born hereGeorge Hackathorne is born here
In the archiveUmatilla infants in cradleboards, ca. 1898BuiltHamley and Company Leather Goods Store is built
BuiltEllis-Hampton House is builtBuiltMatlock-Brownfield Building is builtBuiltJoseph Vey House is built
Born hereDave Cockrum is born here
Born hereGordon H. Smith is born here
Born hereElaine Miles is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pendleton. 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 Pendleton.
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 Pendleton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 243 people in 1870 to 17,107 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pendleton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Pendleton’s post office has been open since 1869. Another post office, Marshall, 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).
In 1851, according to Wikidata. Pendleton’s post office opened in 1865, and the census of 1870 counted 243 people here.
Pendleton is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #15 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.
17 listings: 16 buildings, among them the Edgar Sommerville House (listed 1980, the first), and 1 historic district, the South Main Street Commercial Historic District, with 19 contributing buildings. 38 historic buildings in all.
24% of Pendleton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (1), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (17), 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.
