Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Steven Pavlov · CC BY-SA 4.0Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1940.
The Grand Coulee post office opened in 1934, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1935.
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 Grand Coulee’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grand Coulee.
Grand Coulee was officially incorporated on November 6, 1935. It is located above the Grand Coulee Dam and next to North Dam.
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.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Washington - Grant County - Grand Coulee - ED 13-…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePanoramic view from bluff south of Grand Coulee Dam; this segment of the panorama shows C…2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grand Coulee. 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 Grand Coulee.
No 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 Grand Coulee’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 897 and 3,659 people in every census since 1940.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grand Coulee’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Grand Coulee’s post office has been open since 1934.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Grand Coulee post office opened in 1934, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1935.
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 Library of Congress (6), 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.
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