Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Ruthven78 · CC BY-SA 3.04 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1920.
Metaline Falls dates its founding to 1900 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1920.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Metaline Falls.
By 1810, European fur traders were crossing the area. The settlement of Metaline Falls was founded in 1900, with most of its residents then employed by the Mammoth and Morning lead-zinc mines. Metaline Falls was officially incorporated on May 3, 1911.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 547 in 1950; 272 people lived here in 2020.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Metaline Falls’ Wikipedia page.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltMetaline Falls School is builtBuiltPend Oreille Mines and Metals Building is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereStephen Cosgrove is born here
In the archiveMetaline District geologic map
In the archiveMetaline Falls, Washington, circa 1980
In the archiveBridge deck from west approach, showing Sullivan Lake District Ranger Station building (l…3 decades in the archive, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Metaline Falls. 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 Metaline Falls.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1915Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Metaline Falls’ page.
Retake this view · +15Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1900, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Metaline Falls’ post office opened in 1910, and the census of 1920 counted 153 people here.
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Lewis P. Larson House (listed 1979, the first). 5 historic buildings in all.
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 (10), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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