History · Erda

Erda’s post office opened in 1880

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #92 of 119 in Utah. What drives it

Most of Erda was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1880.

1880first post office

0on the National Register

2%homes built before 1940

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Photo: Jackpeck at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Quick answers

How Erda began

When was Erda founded?

1880

The Erda post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 145 in 18802020 census: 3,673146 years

How historic is Erda?

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Erda post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

History grade

What drives Erda’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Erda is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #92 of 119 in Utah. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Erda’s overall grade.

Founding era1880, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 19401.7% of homes (±1.6) · typical UT town 2.8% · U.S. 8.4%C⁻National RegisterNo listings counted · typical UT town 3.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 15%

NewerOlder

Utah towns of 2,500+ (119)Ahead of 23%

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 Erda’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (18% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 Erda’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Erda are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1910 and 1950, then grew more than tenfold.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Erda’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Erda’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

People over time

Erda, census by census

Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1950, then grew more than tenfold.

12 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Erda’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Erda, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Erda yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Erda (, UR-də) is a city in Tooele County, Utah, United States. The population was 4,642 at the 2010 census, a significant increase from the 2000 figure of 2,473. Erda was previously a Census-Designated Place (CDP) and a township, but it officially received its incorporation certificate in January 2022.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 4,642 to 3,673 (-21%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Erda, 1880 to 2010

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1880Post officeThe Erda post office opens
20th century
1913Post officeThe Erda post office closes
1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
21st century
2010CensusPopulation peaks at 4,642

By decade

Erda, decade by decade

Today22 recent

2023Tooele Air Center Groundbreaking Nov 2023

2007Erda overlooking the Great Salt Lake

On the map

Erda on the map, 1955 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Erda. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1955Tooele sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Erda.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Erda had its own post office from 1880 to 1913.

Erda

1880–1913

18801950today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Marshall

1cemetery inside Erda

Erda Pioneer

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Tooele6 historic placesB⁻Grantsville8 historic placesB⁺Stansbury ParkIts storyD⁻

Questions about Erda’s history

What year was Erda founded?

The Erda post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Erda rank for history?

Erda is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #92 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.

How old are the homes in Erda?

2% of Erda’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 2.8% for an Utah town; the median home was built in 1997.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (22), 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.

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