Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #24 of 119 in Utah. What drives it
21 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1860.
Ephraim dates its founding to 1854 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ephraim is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #24 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 Ephraim’s 38.7 sits above most of its state (82% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 23 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% 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 Ephraim’s history is told.
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.
1892Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ephraim.
The first settlement at Ephraim was made in 1854. A post office called Ephraim has been in operation since 1856. The town was named after Ephraim of the Old Testament.
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.
BuiltNiels Ole Anderson House is builtBuiltEphraim United Order Cooperative Building is built
Born hereAnthony C. Lund is born hereBuiltGreaves-Deakin House is builtBuiltLarsen-Noyes House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBuildings of the Ephraim Cooperative Mercantile ExchangeOne decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2022The 1897 brick Queen Anne-style John Dorius Jr. House…
2022Noyes Hall, the main administration building at Snow …
2022A handsome and welcoming home (at first glance) in th…
2022The Johnson-Neilson House, completed in 1895 in the c…
2022A vintage automobile displayed above a downtown build…
2022The main public library in the city of Ephraim (prono…
2012New water storage and water delivery system inEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ephraim. 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 Ephraim.
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 Ephraim’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 910 and 6,135 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ephraim’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Ephraim’s post office has been open since 1856.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1854, according to Wikidata. Ephraim’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1860 counted 910 people here.
Ephraim is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #24 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.
21 listings: 21 buildings, among them the Ephraim United Order Cooperative Building (listed 1973, the first). 23 historic buildings in all.
13% of Ephraim’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 2.8% for an Utah town; the median home was built in 1996.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (8), the National Register of Historic Places (21), 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.
1980