Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Airway Heights dates its founding to 1942 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1960.
More historic than 4% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Airway Heights is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #269 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Washington towns list much on the Register (a typical Washington town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Airway Heights’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (27% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Airway Heights’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Airway Heights.
Airway Heights was founded in 1942 by Carl M. and Flora K. Lundstrom under the Rocket Development Company. Plots sold by the company included racial covenants, restricting homeownership to only those of the "white race". Airway Heights was officially incorporated as a city on June 28, 1955, and Carl Lundstrom was elected its first mayor.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Airway Heights. 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 Airway Heights.
Grew from 708 people in 1960 to 10,757 in 2020, more than tenfold.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Airway Heights’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Airway Heights itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1942, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1960 counted 708 people here.
Airway Heights is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #269 of 285 in Washington. 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.
0.3% of Airway Heights’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 2011.
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 (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
2022
2020
