Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #18 of 119 in Utah. What drives it
Most of Payson was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. 6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 429 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1890 on, and the census since 1860.
Payson dates its founding to 1850 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Payson is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #18 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 Payson’s 188 sits above most of its state (93% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 434 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% 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 Payson’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.
1890Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Payson.
Pioneers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led by James Edward Pace Jr. first settled what is now Payson, Utah. On October 20, 1850, Pace with his family and the families of John Courtland Searle and Andrew Jackson Stewart, totaling 16 settlers in all, arrived at their destination on Peteetneet Creek.
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.
Born hereJohn B. Fairbanks is born here
Born hereInez Knight Allen is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHIGH LINE CANAL, CONSTRUCTION OF SIPHON ACROSS PETEENEET CREEK, CA. 1915. VIEW TO NORTHEA…
Born hereJewel is born here
In the archiveSimons Block2 decades in the archive, from the 1960s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Payson. 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 Payson.
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 Payson’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 830 people in 1860 to 21,101 in 2020, more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Payson’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1850, according to Wikidata. Payson’s post office opened in 1851, and the census of 1860 counted 830 people here.
Payson is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #18 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.
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Christopher F. Dixon Jr. House (listed 1977, the first), and 1 historic district, the Payson Historic District, with 429 contributing buildings. 434 historic buildings in all.
10% of Payson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 2.8% for an Utah town; the median home was built in 1997.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.
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