Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Sundance State Bank and the Sundance School. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1890.
Sundance dates its founding to 1875 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1890.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sundance is more historic than 52% 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 Sundance’s 21.9 sits near the middle of its state (58% of Wyoming towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Sundance’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1890 and 1910, then grew 3-fold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sundance’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sundance. 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 Sundance.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sundance.
Sundance was established in 1875 as a trading post. The Sundance Kid was arrested for a theft he committed here in 1887, the only time he was ever incarcerated, and he took the town's name as a nickname.
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 archiveOld Man of the park. Near Sundance, Wyo
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2015The Sundance State Bank building
2015The Sundance State Bank building in
2015Sundance, Wyoming's, former high school, about to be,…
2015Sundance Looking South
2015Sundance
2015Sign for the Dime Horseshoe Bar, a popular "biker bar…
2014SundancePano1
2014Sundance From Moriah Hill
20131890 Bemalter Bisonschädel der Arapaho anagoria
2005Sundancebank
20032003-08-16 Sundance, Wyoming city limit signFire 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.
1885Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn 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 Sundance’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.
In 1875, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Sundance’s post office opened in 1882, and the census of 1890 counted 515 people here.
Sundance is more historic than 52% 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 Sundance State Bank (listed 1984) and the Sundance School (1985).
14% of Sundance’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Wyoming town; the median home was built in 1976.
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, 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.
