Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #80 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 154 buildings between them. Most of Pell City was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1900.
The Pell City post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1890. Seven smaller post offices, Coosa (1833), Pink Hill (1833) and Diana (1834), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pell City is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #80 of 187 in Alabama. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Pell City’s 113 sits above most of its state (84% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 154 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Pell City’s post office has been open since 1887. Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pell City’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pell City.
Railroad investors founded Pell City in 1890 and named it after George Pell of the Pell City Iron and Land Company, one of its financial backers. The city was incorporated on May 6, 1891, but nearly failed during the Panic of 1893.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveAll these are workers in the Pell City Cotton Mill. Mr. E.A. Thompson, Superintendent of …
Born hereJeanne Pruett is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePell City Olympic Committee pin badge dated 19962 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pell City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pell City.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pell City’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 98 people in 1900 to 12,939 in 2020, more than tenfold.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pell City’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Pell City post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1890.
Pell City is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #80 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.
Two places: the Avandale Mill Historic District (listed 2000) and the Pell City Downtown Historic District (2001).
2% of Pell City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1991.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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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