Most of Chatom was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1984 on, and the census since 1950.
Founding year: the first Chatom post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Chatom’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chatom is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Chatom’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 Chatom’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 is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 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 Chatom’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Chatom yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Chatom is a town in Washington County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in 1949. Chatom is the county seat of Washington County, holding the distinction since 1907. As of the 2020 census, Chatom had a population of 1,104.
Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,288 to 1,104 (-14%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Chatom, 1904 to 1984
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Between 609 and 1,288 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chatom’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Chatom’s history
What year was Chatom founded?
The Chatom post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Chatom rank for history?
Chatom is more historic than 9% 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.
How old are the homes in Chatom?
3% of Chatom’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1981.
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), 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.
Date?
2007
2004