Most of New Market was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 64 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1936 on, and the census since 1880.
The New Market post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hillsboro (1822), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 144 in 18802020 census: 1,543200 years
How historic is New Market?
B+
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first New Market post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Market’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Market is more historic than 68% 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 New Market’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 New Market’s 510 sits above most of its state (96% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 67 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 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 New Market’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
In the early 19th century, several persons from Tennessee explored the area just across the border in what eventually became Madison County in Alabama. Isaac and Joseph Criner also explored the area and, in 1804, settled in the northern part near what is now called the Mountain Fork of the Flint River. George Smith, landowner of the town site, built the first log house and established a mercantile business in 1814. John Miller excavated a millrace and erected a gristmill and sawmill in 1819. Later settlers gave the name "New Market" to the community. The voting precinct was established in 1827. The post office opened the same year.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about New Market’s history
What year was New Market founded?
The New Market post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does New Market rank for history?
New Market is more historic than 68% 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 New Market?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Whitman-Cobb House (listed 1982, the first), and 1 historic district, the New Market Historic District, with 64 contributing buildings. 67 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in New Market?
1% of New Market’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (13), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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) 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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2016
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