Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Penney, J. C., Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 4 buildings. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Penney, J. C., Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: maps from 1907 on.
The Kemmerer post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hamsfork (1887), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kemmerer is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold 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 Kemmerer’s 23.6 sits near the middle of its state (65% of Wyoming towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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 Kemmerer’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1907Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Kemmerer.
The explorer John C. Frémont noted coal in the area during his second expedition in 1843. After the Oregon Short Line Railroad was built through the region, the Union Pacific Coal Company opened the first underground mine nearby in 1881.
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.
Born hereEdgar Herschler is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJohn Buck is born hereWeddings 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 Kemmerer. 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 Kemmerer.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Kemmerer’s post office has been open since 1897. Another post office, Hamsfork, opened and closed inside today’s town.
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 Kemmerer post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Kemmerer is more historic than 58% 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the J. C. Penney House (listed 1976, the first), and 1 historic district, the Penney, J. C., Historic District, with 4 contributing buildings. 7 historic buildings in all.
14% of Kemmerer’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Wyoming town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
