More historic than 2% of U.S. towns · #181 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
Most of Harvest was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Below: maps from 1888 on and the census since 1990.
The Harvest post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Kelly (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,922 in 19902020 census: 5,893121 years
How historic is Harvest?
D−
More historic than 2% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Harvest post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Harvest’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harvest is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns, #181 of 187 in Alabama. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Harvest’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 Harvest’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 D. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 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 Harvest’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Harvest area was originally part of Cherokee lands until the early 1800s. From the late 1800s through the early 1900s, Harvest saw growth and development resulting from the construction and operation of a rail line southward from Fayetteville, Tennessee. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis (NC&StL) Railway eventually acquired the rail line. In the early-to-mid-1900s, Harvest was centered around the railroad between the communities of Capshaw (the line's terminus) and Toney. Many early settlers in the Harvest area were from the Fayetteville area. In 1929, the NC&StL abandoned the line, pulled up the rails and transferred the right-of-way to the Madison County Highway Department with a quitclaim deed. Today, that roadbed is a two-lane roadway that continues to serve as a vital link in the modern day-to-day transportation network, and carries the appropriate name, “Old Railroad Bed …
Grew from 1,922 people in 1990 to 5,893 in 2020, 3 times over.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harvest’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Harvest’s history
What year was Harvest founded?
The Harvest post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Harvest rank for history?
Harvest is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns, #181 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 Harvest?
0.0% of Harvest’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 2003.
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 (2), 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
2004