Newcastle’s post office opened in 1889, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #4 of 28 in Wyoming. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 23 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Newcastle post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Newcastle’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newcastle is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #4 of 28 in Wyoming. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Newcastle’s overall grade.
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 Newcastle’s 77.7 sits above most of its state (81% of Wyoming towns have fewer) while its 26 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.7 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 Newcastle’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost half of its people between 1890 and 1900, then grew 4-fold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Newcastle’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Newcastle, building by building, 1891–1920
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.
Newcastle was founded in 1889 as a mining town and a railroad town as the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad expanded westward. It is named after Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, an important coal shipping port. President Teddy Roosevelt visited Newcastle in 1903.
U.S. Route 85 once ran south from the city to the east of the rail track, crossing them over a five span wide flange steel girder bridge constructed in 1929. The portion of US Hwy 85 from Newcastle to just south of the bridge was realigned to the west bypassing the bridge in 1963.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Newcastle’s history
What year was Newcastle founded?
The Newcastle post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Newcastle rank for history?
Newcastle is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #4 of 28 in Wyoming. 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.
What is on the National Register in Newcastle?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the US Post Office-Newcastle Main (listed 1987, the first), and 1 historic district, the Newcastle Commercial District, with 23 contributing buildings. 26 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Newcastle?
22% of Newcastle’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Wyoming town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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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