Its Register listings are the Aliceville Elementary and High School and the Parks E. Ball House. Its Register listings are the Aliceville Elementary and High School and the Parks E. Ball House. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1910.
The Aliceville post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Franconia (1875), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 640 in 19102020 census: 2,177123 years
How historic is Aliceville?
C
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Aliceville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Aliceville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Aliceville is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Aliceville’s overall grade.
Alabama towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Alabama town has 2.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Aliceville’s 9.0 sits above most of its state (65% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.6 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 Aliceville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1902 the settlement that would become Aliceville was founded with the opening of a single store. The city was named in honor of Alice Dearing Cochrane (1876-1922), the wife of John T. Cochrane, founder of the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad and moving force behind the construction of the short line from Carrollton, Alabama to Aliceville.
Within two years of the completion of the short line, Aliceville had grown to what the Montgomery Advertiser called in 1905 "a town of considerable pretensions. There are about a dozen stores, a bank, public buildings and numerous enterprises."
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Aliceville post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Aliceville rank for history?
Aliceville is more historic than 35% 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.
What is on the National Register in Aliceville?
Two places: the Aliceville Elementary and High School (listed 1980) and the Parks E. Ball House (1982).
How old are the homes in Aliceville?
11% of Aliceville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (12), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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