Most of Mount Vernon was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 25 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Mount Vernon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Mount Vernon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Vernon is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Vernon’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 Mount Vernon’s 187 sits above most of its state (90% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 25 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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 (±3.7 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 Mount Vernon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mount Vernon yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mount Vernon is a town in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Mobile metropolitan area. It incorporated in 1959. At the 2020 census the population was 1,354.
Its first post office opened in 1829. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,574 to 1,354 (-14%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
By decade
Mount Vernon, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
The Mount Vernon post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mount Vernon rank for history?
Mount Vernon is more historic than 72% 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 Mount Vernon?
One place: the Mount Vernon Arsenal-Searcy Hospital Complex (listed 1988).
How old are the homes in Mount Vernon?
4% of Mount Vernon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1971.
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), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.
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2010
