More historic than 4% of U.S. towns · #268 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Most of Venersborg was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: maps from 1941 on and the census since 2000.
The Venersborg post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Crawford (1911), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 3,274 in 20002020 census: 3,990113 years
How historic is Venersborg?
D−
More historic than 4% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Venersborg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Venersborg’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Venersborg is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #268 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Venersborg’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 Venersborg’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 D. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 points) is firm at this size. 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 Venersborg’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was established as "Venner's Villas" in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when a land entrepreneur, J. C. Lanerberg, purchased land from various sources including the government, railroad companies, and other landowners. He divided the land into 10-acre (40,000 m2) lots. To market the area, Lanerberg produced pamphlets written in Swedish that highlighted its resemblance to rural Sweden. The flyers were concentrated in large, urban communities throughout the United States and the first settlers who arrived in the early 1900s were mostly of Swedish ancestry. The growth of nearby Vancouver and Portland led to an influx of new residents in the 1960s.
The Venersborg post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Venersborg rank for history?
Venersborg is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #268 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.
How old are the homes in Venersborg?
0.5% of Venersborg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1992.
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.
