Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 2% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Grapeview was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1938 on.
The Grapeview post office opened in 1922, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Detroit (1894), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 2% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grapeview is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Grapeview’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: 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 Grapeview’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grapeview.
From the 1870s to the 1920s, transportation needs for Grapeview (once known as Detroit) and other communities along Case Inlet were once served by a small flotilla of steamboats.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grapeview. 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 Grapeview.
Nobody well known was born in Grapeview itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Grapeview’s post office has been open since 1922. Another post office, Detroit, 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 Grapeview post office opened in 1922, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Grapeview is more historic than 2% 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.
0.0% of Grapeview’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
