Founding year: the first Shelton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1889.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Shelton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shelton is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #49 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Shelton’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 Shelton’s 3.8 sits above most of its state (73% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1889 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Shelton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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 year, then a sheet.
1890Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the National Register
4 historic places in Shelton
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Shelton was officially incorporated in 1890. The city was named after David Shelton, a delegate to the territorial legislature. The land was previously called "Cota" and was inhabited and managed by the Squaxin Island Tribe, or "People of the Waters", who had inhabited the land for centuries before contact with white settlers. The land was ceded, along with 4,000 sq. miles of Indigenous land, on December 26, 1854, with the passage of the Treaty of Medicine Creek. After the passage of the treaty, David Shelton and his wife, Frances Shelton, each took a claim of land enabled by the Donation Land Claim Act totaling 640 acres in what would eventually be incorporated as Shelton.
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.
Carmill StationPines Mobile Home ParkRiverside Mobile Home Park
1cemetery inside Shelton
Shelton Memorial Park
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Shelton’s history
What year was Shelton founded?
The Shelton post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1889.
How does Shelton rank for history?
Shelton is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #49 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.
What is on the National Register in Shelton?
4 listings: 2 buildings and 2 structures.
How old are the homes in Shelton?
13% of Shelton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (3), 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.
1909
