Its Register listing is the Shipley-Cook Farmstead. Most of Stafford was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1914 on.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Stafford is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Stafford’s overall grade.
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 Stafford’s 18.8 sits above most of its state (80% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.2 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
What stands out about Stafford’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Stafford was named by George A. Steel, a prominent Portland pioneer, after his hometown of Stafford, Ohio, in the 1860s. The Stafford School opened in the community in 1892, and the following year the Eastside Electric Railway owned by Steel reached the area. Stafford post office operated from 1878 to 1905.
Parts of the Stafford area were proposed to be added to the Portland area's urban growth boundary in 1995. Eventually 830 acres (3.4 km2) were added, but later removed after a court fight that ended in 2001 at the Oregon Court of Appeals. In November 2006, the residents of Stafford voted 344–30 to form a hamlet, the second Oregon community to do so (after Beavercreek).
Stafford is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Stafford?
One place: the Shipley-Cook Farmstead (listed 2008).
How old are the homes in Stafford?
7% of Stafford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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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