Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1862.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Coalville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Coalville is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Coalville’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 Coalville’s 31.9 sits above most of its state (78% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±6.5 points). Two sources give 1859.
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 Coalville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Coalville originally began as a settlement known as Chalk Creek. In 1856 Brigham Young, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), awarded hundreds of acres of farmland to trailblazer and trusted bodyguard "Return" Jackson Redden. Redden first visited the valley around 1846 while scouting trail ahead of the advance of Mormon pioneers. The first recorded settlement was Redden's ranch, spanning from 100 N. Main Street to beyond the Coalville City Cemetery where he is buried. In 1854, the territorial government in Utah offered a $1000 reward to anyone who could find coal within 40 miles of Salt Lake City. Four years later, Redden and associate Thomas Rhodes found a coal vein in the Chalk Creek area, and coal mining began in earnest. Hundreds of tons of coal were shipped to Salt Lake City, and soon a narrow gauge railroad was built. The settlement was then re…
In 1859, according to Wikidata. Coalville’s post office opened in 1862.
How does Coalville rank for history?
Coalville is more historic than 57% 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 Coalville?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Summit County Courthouse (listed 1978, the first). 6 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Coalville?
11% of Coalville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 2.8% for an Utah town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1868