Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainMore historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #49 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
Most of Scottsboro was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 36 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1917 on, and the census since 1870.
Scottsboro dates its founding to 1811 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Scottsboro is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #49 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 Scottsboro’s 24.2 sits above most of its state (71% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 38 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
Scottsboro’s post office has been open since 1859. Three 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 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Scottsboro.
Prior to Scottsboro's founding, the area surrounding the present-day city was inhabited by the Cherokee Indians. While the Tennessee Valley did not have large Native American settlements at the time of the first white settlers, there was a Cherokee town named "Sauta" near where Scottsboro developed along the Tennessee River.
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.
Born hereRobert E. Jones, Jr. is born here
Born hereLucille Benson is born here
In the archiveSawmill, Skyline Farms, Alabama
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1935Sawmill, Skyline Farms, Alabama
1935Children of resettlement farmer, Skyline Farms, Alaba…
1935Children of resettlement farmer, Skyline Farms, Alaba…
1935Vegetables grown by resettled farmer, Skyline Farms, …
1935Clearing land by burning stumps, Skyline Farms, Alaba…
1935Wife of sharecropper to be resettled on Skyline Farms…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Scottsboro. 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 Scottsboro.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1917Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Scottsboro’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 357 people in 1870 to 15,578 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Scottsboro’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1811, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Scottsboro’s post office opened in 1832, and the census of 1870 counted 357 people here.
Scottsboro is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #49 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.
4 listings: 2 buildings and 2 historic districts, the Public Square Historic District and the College Hill Historic District, with 36 contributing buildings. 38 historic buildings in all.
6% of Scottsboro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 the Library of Congress (6), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
