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DHistory
History · Cowarts

Cowarts’ post office opened in 1880

More historic than 11% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Cowarts was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: maps from 1969 on and the census since 1970.

1880first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Photo: The Bushranger · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Cowarts began

When was Cowarts founded?

1880

The Cowarts post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 350 in 19702020 census: 1,930146 years

How historic is Cowarts?

D

More historic than 11% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Cowarts post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Cowarts’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cowarts is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cowarts’ overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 11%
NewerOlder

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 Cowarts’ 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 range from D− to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.4 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 Cowarts’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cowarts’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cowarts’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The story so far

Cowarts, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cowarts yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Cowarts is a town in Houston County, Alabama, United States. The town incorporated in August 1961. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Cowarts had a population of 1,930.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,871 to 1,930 (+3%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Cowarts, decade by decade

On the map

Cowarts on the map, 1969 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cowarts. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Cowarts on the 1969 USGS mapCowarts on the 1981 USGS map1969Dothan East sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cowarts.

People over time

Cowarts, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0001980200020201,930

Grew from 350 people in 1970 to 1,930 in 2020, 5 times over.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cowarts’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Cowarts

Nobody well known was born in Cowarts itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Cowarts’s post office has been open since 1880.

Hamlets and corners on the map
East Gate EstatesNorth Cowarts
Gone or out of use
Saint Matthew Churchchurch
1cemetery inside Cowarts
Cowarts

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Cowarts’ history

What year was Cowarts founded?

The Cowarts post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Cowarts rank for history?

Cowarts is more historic than 11% 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 Cowarts?

0.0% of Cowarts’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1992.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (4), 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.