Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 11% of U.S. towns · #220 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Most of Three Lakes was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 2000.
The Three Lakes post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 11% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Three Lakes is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #220 of 285 in Washington. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Three Lakes’ 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 Three Lakes’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Three Lakes yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Three Lakes is a census-designated place (CDP) in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,941 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1903. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,184 to 3,941 (+24%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Three Lakes, cut from the printed page as they were published.
THREE LAKES—Located five miles northeast of Snohomish, founded in 1903 and platted in 1922 by the Three Lakes Lumber Company, which operates a large sawmill and planing mill and also a large shingle mill operating eight upright shingle machines. The company’s standard-gauge logging railroad makes direct connection with the Northern Pacific, Great Northern and Milwaukee Railways, and there is also an excellent automobile stage service. Three Lakes is a model community center, with modern residences, a community church, an adequate public school building and equipment and several mercantile establishments to serve a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings 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 Three Lakes. 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 Three Lakes.
Between 2,492 and 3,941 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Three Lakes’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Three Lakes itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Three Lakes had its own post office from 1903 to 1926.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Three Lakes post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Three Lakes is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #220 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.
4% of Three Lakes’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 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 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.
