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B+History
History · Wellsville

Wellsville dates to 1856, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #15 of 119 in Utah. What drives it

8 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1917 on, and the census since 1870.

1856founded
8on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Wellsville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Wellsville began

When was Wellsville founded?

1856

Wellsville dates its founding to 1856 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1870.

First census: 885 in 18702020 census: 4,060170 years

How historic is Wellsville?

B+

More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1861.
History grade

What drives Wellsville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wellsville is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #15 of 119 in Utah. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wellsville’s overall grade.
Founding era1856, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194020.4% of homes (±8.0) · typical UT town 2.8% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register8 listings, 19.2 per 10,000 residents · typical UT town 3.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 68%
NewerOlder
Utah towns of 2,500+ (119)Ahead of 88%

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 Wellsville’s 19.2 sits above most of its state (72% of Utah towns have fewer) while its 8 listings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.0 points). Two sources give 1856.

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 →

What stands out about Wellsville’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register8 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wellsville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFig 21 Bonneville and Intermediate emba…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

8 historic places in Wellsville

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
8
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Howell-Theurer House
Howell-Theurer HouseWellsville TabernacleZial Riggs House, built 1868George Bradshaw House and Joshua Salisbury/George Bradshaw BarnSamuel Crowthers Mitton House, built 1865Wellsville Relief Society Meeting HouseHeber K. and Rachel H. Bankhead House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival2
Vernacular2
Victorian Eclectic2
Federal1
Gothic Revival1
Folk1
Howell-Theurer HouseFederal
Wellsville TabernacleGothic Revival
Zial Riggs HouseVernacular · Built 1868
George Bradshaw House and Joshua Salisbury/George Bradshaw BarnVictorian Eclectic
Samuel Crowthers Mitton HouseVernacular · Built 1865
Wellsville Relief Society Meeting HouseCross-Wing
Heber K. and Rachel H. Bankhead HouseVictorian Eclectic
All 8 listings
Spence Confectionery and Dance HallBuilding · listed 2026

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story so far

Wellsville, in brief

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

Wellsville is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The population was 4,060 at the 2020 census. Wellsville is located at the base of the Wellsville mountain range. It is included in the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area. Wellsville is home to the Utah State University South Farm as well as the Utah State University Equestrian Center, the American Heritage Center and the Wellsville Tabernacle. Wellsville was laid out in 1856, and named after Daniel H. Wells, a LDS Church leader.

Wellsville was established in 1856. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,432 to 4,060 (+18%).

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

Timeline

Wellsville, 1856 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856
    FoundingWellsville is established
  3. 1861Post officeThe Wellsville post office opens
  4. 1865BuiltSamuel Crowthers Mitton House is built
  5. 1868BuiltZial Riggs House is built
  6. 1890In the archiveFig 21 Bonneville and Intermediate embankments near
  7. 20th century
  8. 1933Born hereEarl Lindley is born here
  9. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Wellsville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s2 items
Fig 21 Bonneville and Intermediate embankments near1890Fig 21 Bonneville and Intermediate embankments nearPlate 21 Map of Shore Bars and Terraces1890Plate 21 Map of Shore Bars and TerracesMap
1900s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today14 recent
U.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahU.S. Highway 91 - Utah2007U.S. Highway 91 - UtahAmerican West Heritage Center2006American West Heritage Center
On the map

Wellsville on the map, 1962 to 1998

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

Wellsville on the 1962 USGS mapWellsville on the 1986 USGS mapWellsville on the 1998 USGS map1962Wellsville 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 Wellsville.

Every building

Wellsville, building by building, 1917–1929

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.

Wellsville fire insurance map, 1917, sheet 11917Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Fig 21 Bonneville and Intermediate embankments near
Retake this viewFig 21 Bonneville and Intermediate embankments near, 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Wellsville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Wellsville, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,500188019001920194019601980200020204,060

Grew from 885 people in 1870 to 4,060 in 2020, 4 times over.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Wellsville’s post office has been open since 1861.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Greens CornerMount Sterling
1cemetery inside Wellsville
Wellsville

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.

BensonIts storyC−

Questions about Wellsville’s history

What year was Wellsville founded?

In 1856, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Wellsville’s post office opened in 1861, and the census of 1870 counted 885 people here.

How does Wellsville rank for history?

Wellsville is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #15 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.

What is on the National Register in Wellsville?

8 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Howell-Theurer House (listed 1979, the first).

How old are the homes in Wellsville?

20% of Wellsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 2.8% for an Utah town; the median home was built in 1987.

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 (16), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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.