Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns · #68 of 119 in Utah. What drives it
Most of St. George was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1870.
The St. George post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Tonaquint (1861), Bloomington (1886) and Dixie (1901), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 29% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. George is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #68 of 119 in Utah. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, St. George ranks #308 on History.
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 St. George’s 1.4 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 14 listings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at St. George’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of St. George.
St. George was founded as part of the cotton mission in 1861 under the direction of Latter Day Saint apostle Erastus Snow. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Brigham Young accelerated the colonization effort:
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.
BuiltSt. George Tabernacle is builtBuiltThomas Judd House is builtBuiltWoodward School is builtBuiltMain Building of Dixie College is built
Born hereHoward Cannon is born here
In the archive1914 D Sugarloaf
In the archiveCotton plant inscription on cliff along Virgin River below St. George, Utah. At the base …
In the archiveHistoric American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, Photographer, 1940 DOORWAY DETAIL. - …
Born hereJeffrey R. Holland is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereAmanda Righetti is born here
In the archiveColonial Motel sign, St. George Boulevard, Saint George, Utah
Born hereBrendon Urie is born here4 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. George. 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 St. George.
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 St. George’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,142 people in 1870 to 95,342 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. George’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The St. George post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
St. George is more historic than 29% of U.S. towns, #68 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.
14 listings: 11 buildings, among them the Old Washington County Courthouse (listed 1970, the first), 1 historic district, the St. George Central City Historic District,, 1 site, and 1 object.
0.6% of St. George’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), 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 (6), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (14), 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) 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.
1914
1933