Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Garrett is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Garrett’s 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: our sources. 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 Garrett’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Garrett yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Garrett is a census-designated place (CDP) in Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. As of the 2020 census, Garrett had a population of 1,771.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,419 to 1,771 (+25%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Garrett, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Mountjoy Bayley, appointed by the Governor for that purpose, sold, April IG, 1792, the State's lands west of Fort Cumberland, which embraced a large part of Garrett County.' In the fall and winter of 1875 a movement was made to create another county by a division of Garrett. Two public meetings were 1 The history of these lands will be found at the end of the chapter on the war of the Kcvolut on.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The growing town of Oakland, the county-seat of Garrett, is two hundred and thirty-two miles from Baltimore, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It is located on the summit of a plateau of the Allegany Mountains, two thousand three hundred and seventytwo feet above tide-water, and its atmosphere is noted for purity and healthfulness. The neighboring streams abound with trout, and the surrounding mountains
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Garrett itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Garrett is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. 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.
33% of Garrett’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.9 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 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.