Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1888.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Machias’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Machias is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Machias’ 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 Machias’ 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±17.3 points). Two sources give 1888.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Machias’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Charles Niemeyer established a homestead along the Pilchuck River in 1877. The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway was granted right-of-way across the property in 1888. Niemeyer later sold 80 acres (32 ha) to L. W. Getchell, who filed a plat in 1890 for Machias, named for his hometown of Machias, Maine. The townsite already had a post office and a general store; Machias later gained a church, two hotels, and several other businesses. A two-room schoolhouse was built in 1903. The town was surrounded by lumber and shingle mills; it was mostly destroyed in a 1914 fire.
In 1826, East Machias and Machiasport were incorporated into separate towns. In 1845, Whitney ville was incorporated, haviiig been started in 1835, by Colonel Joseph Whitney, of Calais, a very enterprising man, who built a large dam across the main river, and erected saw mills. In 1849, Marshfield was incorporated. All of these belonged to the old town of Macliias, and served to contract its territorial limits, and
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government on account of services rendered at Machias in 1775 and '77. Besides assisting in the capture of the Margaretta, several of them were stationed at the garrison in Machias, in service of the Massa-
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History of Snohomish County, Washington, Volume I1926 · page 618Read the page →
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Turner came to Snohomish in the spring of 1884, and then went on up to Machias. There was no road into Granite Falls then, so Turner lived at Machias from April to August, until he could cut out a rough road from Machias into his claim. The nearest neighbors to these early Granite Falls settlers lived at Hartford and Machias. Turner, who was born in Park County, Indiana, June 22, 1840, for a time
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History of Snohomish County, Washington, Volume I1926 · page 199Read the page →
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time at Tualco, in June, 1895. Charles Harriman, of that place, also suggested the use of a portable sawmill, stating that from the 60-foot right-of-way enough timber could be cut for the planking and also to supply local ranchers with lumber. The plank road to Machias proved a heavy undertaking for Everett to put through without aid and in June, 1895, a delegation visited the board and asked the aid of the board to complete this road and also to open a road from Fiddlers Bluff to Cathcart, tendering the use of a portable sawmill to cut the plank needed. This offer was accepted, the road to Machias was finished and the road to Cathcart was
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Machias, 1888 to 1944
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1888, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Machias’ post office opened in 1888, and the census of 2000 counted 1,015 people here.
How does Machias rank for history?
Machias is more historic than 35% 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.
How old are the homes in Machias?
16% of Machias’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±17.3 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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