Founding year: the first Manson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
History grade
What drives Manson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manson is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Manson’s 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 Manson’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Manson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Manson yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Manson is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Chelan County in the U.S. state of Washington. It was named in 1912 for Manson F. Backus, president of the Lake Chelan Land Company. Manson is located in the north-central portion of the state on the north shore of Lake Chelan, approximately 7 miles (11 km) northwest of the city of Chelan. Manson is part of the Wenatchee–East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The USPS ZIP code for Manson is 98831. Manson is home to a number of wineries.
Its first post office opened in 1912. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,468 to 1,523 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Manson, 1911 to 1981
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Manson post office opened in 1912, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Manson rank for history?
Manson is more historic than 11% 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 Manson?
5% of Manson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1994.
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 (5), 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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