Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 5% of U.S. towns · #265 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Most of Ocean Shores was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: maps from 1941 on and the census since 1970.
The Ocean Shores post office opened in 1962, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lone Tree (1908), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 5% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ocean Shores is more historic than 5% of U.S. towns, #265 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Ocean Shores’ 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 Ocean Shores’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ocean Shores.
The City of Ocean Shores occupies the Point Brown Peninsula on the Washington coast. Long before the arrival of European explorers and settlers, the peninsula was used by the various local tribes for trading and other purposes. The Chinook, Chehalis, and Quinault tribes used the area, as well as others that now make up the Quinault Indian Nation.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Ocean Shores. 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 Ocean Shores.
Grew from 800 people in 1970 to 6,715 in 2020, 8 times over.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ocean Shores’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Ocean Shores itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Ocean Shores had its own post office from 1962 to 1976. Another post office, Lone Tree, 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).
The Ocean Shores post office opened in 1962, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Ocean Shores is more historic than 5% of U.S. towns, #265 of 285 in Washington. 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.
2% of Ocean Shores’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1997.
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, 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.
