More historic than 11% of U.S. towns · #147 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
Most of Owens Cross Roads was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2006. Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1970.
Founding year: the first Owens Cross Roads post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Owens Cross Roads’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Owens Cross Roads is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #147 of 187 in Alabama. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Owens Cross Roads’ 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 Owens Cross Roads’ 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 (±1.3 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 Owens Cross Roads’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area has a history that can be dated back to the early 1800's. Pioneers had drifted into the area from Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia with names such as Wood, Parker, Craig, Craft, Maples, Carpenter and Brannum, but a gentleman named Thomas J. Owens had migrated from Virginia and was the first to build his family home near an intersection of two roads.
The name Owens Cross Roads was very appropriately chosen since the Owens home was at "the cross roads". The community grew in size at a steady pace over the years as a large frame business house was erected near the intersection, containing a post office (established 1861), general store and blacksmith shop. Owens Cross Roads first appeared on maps in 1850.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Owens Cross Roads. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1936New Hope 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 Owens Cross Roads.
People over time
Owens Cross Roads, census by census
Grew from 767 people in 1970 to 2,594 in 2020, 3 times over.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Owens Cross Roads’ Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Gone or out of use
Carpenter Bridgebridge
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Owens Cross Roads
ByrdNeal Chapel
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Owens Cross Roads post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Owens Cross Roads rank for history?
Owens Cross Roads is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #147 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 Owens Cross Roads?
0.0% of Owens Cross Roads’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 2006.
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 (11), 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.
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