Most of Creola was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1941 on and the census since 1970.
Founding year: the first Creola post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Creola’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Creola 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 Creola’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 Creola’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 range from D− to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 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 Creola’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Creola was named for the first settler in the area, who was Creole. The town of Creola shows up intermittently on some maps from the 1870s and on a rail line, such as the Mobile and Alabama Grand Trunk line. A post office was established in the locale in 1885. Creola was incorporated on February 14, 1978.
In 2013 the governments of Creola and Saraland were taking steps in a possible merger.
The Creola post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Creola rank for history?
Creola 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 Creola?
0.0% of Creola’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (1), 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.
2004
