Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Basin Republican-Rustler Printing Building and the US Post Office-Basin Main. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1910.
The Basin post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Basin is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Wyoming towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wyoming town has 25.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Basin’s 15.5 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Wyoming towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 Basin’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Basin.
Winfield S. Collins founded "Basin City" in 1896 as the county seat for newly created Big Horn County. The first building was home to the "Basin City Herald". The town was incorporated in 1902 as simply "Basin". Collins was the first mayor.
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.
In the archiveGreybullRiver1963
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2020Post Office 2020
2020Basin Republican-Rustler Printing Building 2020
2019Big Horn County Courthouse, Wyoming
2015The Big Horn County Courthouse
2015The U.S. Post Office building, constructed in 1919
2015Sage-steppe Habitat in Upper Green River
2009Basin-wy-post-office
2009Basin-republican-rustler
2007BasinWyoming
2007BasinWyoming (cropped)Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Basin. 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 Basin.
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.
1914Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Basin’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 763 and 1,349 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Basin’s Wikipedia page.
The Basin post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Basin is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. 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.
Two places: the Basin Republican-Rustler Printing Building (listed 1976) and the US Post Office-Basin Main (1987).
23% of Basin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.5 points), against a typical 12% for a Wyoming town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 Wikimedia Commons (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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