Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #14 of 119 in Utah. What drives it
26 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 1,100 buildings. Below: maps from 1884 on and the census since 1860.
Brigham City dates its founding to 1851 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
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, Brigham City is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #14 of 119 in Utah. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Utah towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Utah town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Brigham City’s 564 sits above most of its state (98% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 1,128 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% 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 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brigham City’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Brigham City.
Latter-Day Saint pioneer William Davis first explored the Brigham City area in 1850. He returned with his family and others a year later to create permanent homes. Brigham Young directed Lorenzo Snow to lead additional settlers to the site and foster a self-sufficient city at the site in 1853.
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.
BuiltBox Elder County Courthouse is built
Born hereJoseph Howell is born hereBuiltBox Elder Stake Tabernacle is builtBuiltAlma Compton House is builtBuiltBrigham City Carnegie Library is built
Born hereD. Lowell Jensen is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brigham City. 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 Brigham City.
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 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Grew from 975 people in 1860 to 19,650 in 2020, more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brigham City’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Brigham City’s post office has been open since 1856. Two 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1851, according to Wikidata. Brigham City’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1860 counted 975 people here.
Brigham City is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #14 of 119 in Utah. 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.
26 listings: 25 buildings, among them the Box Elder Stake Tabernacle (listed 1971, the first), and 1 historic district, the Brigham City Historic District, with 1,100 contributing buildings. 1,128 historic buildings in all.
11% of Brigham City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 2.8% for an Utah town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (26), 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.
