Founding year: the first Lillian post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lillian’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lillian 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 Lillian’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 Lillian’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 (±1.8 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 Lillian’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was named for Lillian Kee (1889-1972), the daughter of William Thomas Kee, postmaster. In 1630, the King of Spain gave land grants to the Suarez family that included the current site of Lillian. Francisco Suarez operated a ferry near the modern site of Lillian. After the United States took control of Mobile during the War of 1812, a stockade fort was constructed in the area. This fort was eventually burned by Spanish forces a few months later. The Baldwin Colonization Company purchased the area around Lillian in 1923 to promote the area as a resort location. Lillian was once home to a school and hotel. The hotel was originally located in Elberta then dismantled and moved to Lillian.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Lillian’s history
What year was Lillian founded?
The Lillian post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lillian rank for history?
Lillian 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 Lillian?
0.0% of Lillian’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1996.
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 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.
