Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 23% of U.S. towns · #22 of 28 in Wyoming. What drives it
Most of Riverton was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Its Register listings are the Delfelder Schoolhouse and the Riverton Railroad Depot. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1918 on, and the census since 1910.
The Riverton post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 23% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Riverton is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns, #22 of 28 in Wyoming. 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 Riverton’s 1.8 sits near the middle of its state (35% 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 →
From Wikipedia’s history of Riverton.
The city, founded in 1906, is an incorporated entity of the state of Wyoming. The community was named Riverton because of the four rivers that meet there. The town was built on land ceded from the Wind River Indian Reservation, a situation that often makes it subject to jurisdictional claims by the nearby Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes.
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 archiveRiverton Heights School classroom, District 130, Washington, 1909
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereLance Deal is born here
In the archiveUntitled photo
Born hereChance Phelps is born here
Born hereAshlynn Yennie is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Riverton. 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 Riverton.
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.
1918Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn 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 Riverton’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.
Grew from 483 people in 1910 to 10,682 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Riverton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Riverton’s post office has been open since 1906.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Riverton post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Riverton is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns, #22 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.
Two places: the Delfelder Schoolhouse (listed 1978) and the Riverton Railroad Depot (1978).
8% of Riverton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Wyoming town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (6), 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.
1909
1909
c. 1909
c. 1976
