1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 75 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1907 on, and the census since 1910.
The Florala post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Lake City (1875), Lake View (1877) and Grace (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,439 in 19102020 census: 1,923135 years
How historic is Florala?
B+
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Florala post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Florala’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Florala is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Florala’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 Florala’s 412 sits above most of its state (93% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 75 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 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 Florala’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1818, Andrew Jackson stopped at the lake with his soldiers, and thus Lake Jackson is named after him. Since 1870, Florala has served as the home of the world's oldest consecutive annual Masonic Day celebration, through Florala's Fidelity Masonic Lodge #685 (beginning with Chapel Hill and Lake City Lodge #377), and Chapter #441 of the Order of the Eastern Star. The celebration is in honor of St. John's Day, June 24, 1717, when the first Grand Masonic Lodge in England was established. The celebration is held each year on the Friday before June 24 and concluding on the Saturday after the 24th.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Florala. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1971Florala 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 Florala.
Every building
Florala, building by building, 1907–1924
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The Florala post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Florala rank for history?
Florala is more historic than 73% 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 Florala?
One place: the Florala Historic District (listed 2010).
How old are the homes in Florala?
17% of Florala’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (8), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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