DuPont’s post office opened in 1909, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 42% of U.S. towns · #84 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Most of DuPont was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 80 buildings. Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first DuPont post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives DuPont’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, DuPont is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #84 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of DuPont’s overall grade.
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 DuPont’s 80.6 sits above most of its state (95% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 80 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B+. The pre-1940 share (±2.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about DuPont’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
There was a Native American presence in the area for the last 10,000 years. At the time of contact the Nisqually Tribe lived in relative peace and prosperity in their aboriginal homeland of about two million acres (810,000 ha) near the present-day towns of Olympia, Tenino, and DuPont, and extending to Mount Rainier. Tribal life changed radically with the advent of Euro-American settlement about 150 years ago. Forced to compromise its interests and rights over the years, the Tribe always sought to maintain its integrity and dignity. Subsisting on shellfish from the beaches and salmon from Sequalitchew Creek. Captain George Vancouver mapped the area in 1792, and in 1833, the Hudson's Bay Company established a fur trading post at Fort Nisqually as a halfway point between Ft. Vancouver and Ft. Langley. The fort was relocated upstream in 1843. It was relocated to expand on the fort to house …
The DuPont post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does DuPont rank for history?
DuPont is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #84 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.
What is on the National Register in DuPont?
Two places: the DuPont Village Historic District (listed 1987) and the Fort Nisqually Site (1974).
How old are the homes in DuPont?
6% of DuPont’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 2002.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
