Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns · #64 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
Most of Prineville was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1890.
The Prineville post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1880. Another post office, Prine (1871), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Prineville was named for the first merchant to establish businesses in the present location, Barney Prine.
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Prineville is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #64 of 142 in Oregon. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Prineville’s 7.8 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% 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 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 Prineville.
Prineville was founded in 1877 when Monroe Hodges filed the original plat for the city. The post office for the community had been established with the name of Prine on April 13, 1871, but changed to Prineville on December 23, 1872. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 23, 1880, and obtained its first high school in 1902.
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.
BuiltOld First National Bank of Prineville, and Foster and Hyde Store is builtBuiltThomas M. Baldwin House is built
In the archivePrineville, OreBuiltCrook County Bank Building is built
Born hereBill Pearl is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Prineville. 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 Prineville.
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 sheet.
1913Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn 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 Prineville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 460 people in 1890 to 10,736 in 2020, more than tenfold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Prineville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Prineville’s post office has been open since 1872. Another post office, Prine, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Prineville post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1880.
Prineville is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #64 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.
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Old First National Bank of Prineville, and Foster and Hyde Store (listed 1985, the first). 9 historic buildings in all.
4% of Prineville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
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