Cedar City dates to 1851, and 4 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns · #49 of 119 in Utah. What drives it
Most of Cedar City was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 104 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1950 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cedar City’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cedar City is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #49 of 119 in Utah. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cedar City’s overall grade.
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 Cedar City’s 28.0 sits above most of its state (76% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 108 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1851.
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 →
What stands out about Cedar City’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The presence of prehistoric people in the Cedar City area is revealed by rock art found in Parowan Gap to the north and Fremont sites dated to A.D. 1000 and 1300. Ancestors of the present-day Southern Paiute people met the Domínguez–Escalante expedition in this area in 1776. Fifty years later, in 1826, mountain man and fur trader Jedediah Smith traveled through the area, exploring a route from Utah to California.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1851, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Cedar City’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1860 counted 301 people here.
How does Cedar City rank for history?
Cedar City is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #49 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.
What is on the National Register in Cedar City?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Cedar City Railroad Depot (listed 1984, the first), and 1 historic district, the Cedar City Historic District, with 104 contributing buildings. 108 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Cedar City?
2% of Cedar City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 2.8% for an Utah town; the median home was built in 1999.
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 (3), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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) 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.
c. 1930
