More historic than 8% of U.S. towns · #158 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
Most of Center Point was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1970.
Founding year: the first Center Point post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Center Point’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Center Point is more historic than 8% of U.S. towns, #158 of 187 in Alabama. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Center Point’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 Center Point’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (26% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be D. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 points) is firm at this size. 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 Center Point’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The city of Center Point originally started as a small farm community, founded by the Reed family of North Carolina, which was around the same time other families were coming in to settle the towns of Trussville, Springville, Clay, and Pinson. By 1924, the Rock School was built, which now stands as the Center Point City Hall, as well as several business such as a post office and blacksmith shop. Center Point remained an unincorporated and small community from the 1920s through the 1950s, but in 1947 a viable water supply was discovered enabling Center Point to become self-sufficient and set up for further development. During the 1950s, there was steady growth in the area as more people continued to move eastward from the center of Birmingham, seeing the nearby neighborhoods East Lake, Huffman, and Roebuck swell with new houses and people. However, by the 1960s, Center Point began to rap…
The Center Point post office opened in 1938, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Center Point rank for history?
Center Point is more historic than 8% of U.S. towns, #158 of 187 in Alabama. 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.
How old are the homes in Center Point?
2% of Center Point’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (3), Wikipedia, 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.
2012
2012
2004
