Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #62 of 119 in Utah. What drives it
Most of Hooper was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Its Register listing is the Kit Carson Cross. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1880.
Hooper dates its founding to 1854 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hooper is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #62 of 119 in Utah. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Hooper’s 1.1 sits near the middle of its state (45% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hooper’s history is told.
Hooper’s post office has been open since 1870.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Hooper.
Hooper was settled in 1854, and become a township in 1997 (about 15 years after a failed vote to incorporate). Over the next several years "it became evident that the township board could make plans and suggestions, but had no official power," so a vote to incorporate passed on May 2, 2000, with the city being officially incorporated on November 30, 2000.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hooper. 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 Hooper.
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.
Grew from 849 people in 1880 to 9,087 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hooper’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1854, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Hooper’s post office opened in 1870, and the census of 1880 counted 849 people here.
Hooper is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #62 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.
One place: the Kit Carson Cross (listed 2024).
5% of Hooper’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 2.8% for an Utah town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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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