Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #63 of 119 in Utah. What drives it
Most of La Verkin was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Its Register listings are the Hurricane-LaVerkin Bridge and the La Verkin Hydroelectric Power Plant. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1910.
La Verkin dates its founding to 1897 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.
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, La Verkin is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #63 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 La Verkin’s 4.5 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how La Verkin’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of La Verkin.
Theories about the origin of the city's name suggest that it may be a corruption of the Spanish la virgen, after the nearby Virgin River, or possibly an error in the transcription of the term "beaver skin."
The city made national headlines in 2001 when the City Council passed an ordinance declaring La Verkin a "United Nations-free zone".
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 Survey
2016East at SR-9 & SR-17, La Verkin, Utah, Oct 16
2016Cemetery La Verkin, Utah, Oct 16
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013Utah State Highway 9
2013La Verkin, UT, USA
2011Small scale faulting near the Hurricane Fault
2011Concretions
2010LaVerkin Overlook - Virgin River, Utah
20102010-04-17 19.05.07.jpg
20102010-04-17 19.01.56.jpg
2007Laverkin utah protest sign
2005La Verkin, near ZionEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Verkin. 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 La Verkin.
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 120 people in 1910 to 4,354 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on La Verkin’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in La Verkin itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
La Verkin’s post office has been open since 1903.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1897, according to Wikidata. La Verkin’s post office opened in 1903, and the census of 1910 counted 120 people here.
La Verkin is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #63 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.
Two places: the Hurricane-LaVerkin Bridge (listed 1995) and the La Verkin Hydroelectric Power Plant (2022).
3% of La Verkin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.0 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 (24), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
