More historic than 10% of U.S. towns · #230 of 285 in Washington. What drives it
Most of Warden was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1922 on and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Warden post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Warden’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Warden is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns, #230 of 285 in Washington. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Warden’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 Warden’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 C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.5 points). 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 Warden’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Central Basin plateau was settled in the late 1800s by immigrants of Russian-German (Bessarabian) ancestry who homesteaded in the area and farmed dryland wheat. Prior to this the area had been inhabited by local Native American Salish tribes that had contact with the early Spanish and British traders. The Milwaukee Railroad arrived in the early 1900s and attracted additional settlers, including Doc Harris who established a drug and sundries store with physician services in Warden about 1905. The town's name of "Warden" comes from its Bessarabian German heritage and means "worthy" or "treasured" as may be noted in the Das Deutsche Woerterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm. A local tradition attributes the name of the town to Doc Harris's son Ward. However, the area of the town was being referred to as "Warden" by its German settlers long before Doc Harris arrived, as may be noted in th…
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.
1922Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Places that used to be
Old corners
Warden’s post office has been open since 1907.
Hamlets and corners on the map
West Warden
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Warden’s history
What year was Warden founded?
The Warden post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Warden rank for history?
Warden is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns, #230 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 Warden?
4% of Warden’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 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 (7), Wikipedia, 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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