Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the R. C. McCroskey House. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1904 on and old-book passages.
The Garfield post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Garfield.
Garfield was founded in the early 1880s by Samuel J. Tant, who named the town after James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Garfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Section 7. That all the taxes levied and assessed by the board of county commissioners of the county of Garfield for the year 1883, upon personal property within the boundaries of the said county of Asotin, shall be collected and paid into the treasury of said Garfield county for the use of said county of Garfield, Provided, however, That the said county of Garfield shall pay all the just indebtedness of said Garfield
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At the time Columbia county was formed in 1875, there was probably less than 200 settlements in the region which was later set off as Garfield county, including the present Garfield and Asotin counties. These 200 settlements would mean, doubtless, a population of 500 people. No town existed and no effort had been made to establish one other than the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Garfield was laid out in the fall of 1880, and now centains two stores, a hotel, blacksmith shop and post-office. Endicott is on a branch of the Northern Pacific road, and was laid out in the spring of 1882. Considerable attention is being drawn in that direction, and as it is fostered by the railroad company, will probably become a place of considerable importance. A post-office was established July 28, 1882, with H. D. Smith as postmaster.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1904Garfield WA 1904-1918Postcard
c. 1905John Drew Ranch, Garfield, Washington, circa 1905 - D…Postcard
1906Garfield Hardware & Mercantile Company, Garfield, Was…Postcard
1906Hotel Carter Block, Garfield, Washington, 1906 - DPLA…Postcard
1906Presbyterian Church, Garfield, Washington, 1906 - DPL…PostcardNo 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 Garfield’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Garfield post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the R. C. McCroskey House (listed 1974).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
