Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #25 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Charles Preston House, the Haller-Black House and the William and Nellie Fullam House. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1880.
Seaside first appears in the census in 1880. Three smaller post offices, Summer House (1871), Seaside House (1873) and Ben Holladay (1890), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Seaside is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #25 of 142 in Oregon. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Seaside’s 7.0 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first census (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.
Seaside’s post office has been open since 1882. Three 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Seaside.
Around on January 1, 1806, a group of men from the Lewis and Clark Expedition built a salt-making cairn at the site later developed as Seaside. The city was not incorporated until February 17, 1899, when coastal resort areas were being settled. It is about 79 miles (127 km) by car northwest of Portland, Oregon, a major population center.
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.
BuiltWilliam and Nellie Fullam House is built
In the archive08211-Seaside, Ore.-1906-Camp Life-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag
In the archiveSeaside and Tillamook Head, Oregon
In the archiveSign. Seaside, Oregon
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBetsy Eby is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
190608211-Seaside, Ore.-1906-Camp Life-Brück & Sohn Kunst…
190608212-Seaside, Ore.-1906-Beautiful Necanicum-Brück & …
190608213-Seaside, Ore.-1906-Fishing Rocks near Seaview-B…1912Seaside and Tillamook Head, Oregon
1912Seaside, Oregon 1912
1912Seaside and Tillamook Head, Oregon
1914Hotel Moore, Tillamook HeadEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Seaside. 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 Seaside.
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.
1914Sheet 1 of 8Sanborn 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 Seaside’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Grew from 75 people in 1880 to 7,115 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Seaside’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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 Seaside post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1899.
Seaside is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #25 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.
Three places: the Charles Preston House (listed 1991), the Haller-Black House (1991) and the William and Nellie Fullam House (1991).
27% of Seaside’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (6), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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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