Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns · #61 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Most of College Place was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listing is the Saturno-Breen Truck Garden. Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1940.
The College Place post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Davins (1917), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, College Place is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #61 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 College Place’s 6.1 sits above most of its state (78% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how College Place’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of College Place. 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 College Place.
From Wikipedia’s history of College Place.
Martin Field, to the west of town, was an air training base during World War II. It is now a private airfield.
College Place was officially incorporated on January 19, 1946.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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 1,272 people in 1940 to 9,902 in 2020, 7 times over.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on College Place’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in College Place itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
College Place’s post office has been open since 1892. Another post office, Davins, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The College Place post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
College Place is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #61 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.
One place: the Saturno-Breen Truck Garden (listed 1982).
7% of College Place’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
