Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #7 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
Most of Selma was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. 18 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and six historic districts with 1,072 buildings between them. Below: 20 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1830.
Selma dates its founding to 1815 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Selma is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #7 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 Selma’s 653 sits above most of its state (97% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 1,113 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Selma.
Before discovery and settlement by Europeans, the area of present-day Selma had been inhabited for thousands of years by various warring tribes of Native Americans. The Europeans encountered the historic Native American people known as the Muscogee (also known as the Creek), who had been in the area for hundreds of years.
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.
BuiltDallas County Courthouse is builtBuiltSturdivant Hall is built
In the archive"An Ordinance in Regard to Negro Traders" The Daily Selma Reporter, June 1, 1860
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Alabama - Dallas County - Selma - ED 24-7 - ED 24…
In the archiveFirst Presbyterian Church ofBuiltBrown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church is built
In the archiveEpiscopal Church
In the archiveRobert Rhea (1908 steamboat) under a bridge
In the archiveMain street. Selma, AlabamaBuiltEdmund Pettus Bridge is built
Born hereJeff Sessions is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJo Bonner is born here
Born hereSuzan DelBene is born here
Born hereMia Hamm is born here6 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Selma. 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 Selma.
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 year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 7Sanborn 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 Selma’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 28,385 in 1960; 17,971 people lived here in 2020.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Selma’s Wikipedia page.
Selma’s post office has been open since 1819.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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 1815, according to Wikidata. Selma’s post office opened in 1819, and the census of 1830 counted 401 people here.
Selma is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #7 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.
18 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 12 buildings, among them the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (a National Historic Landmark since 1997) and the John Tyler Morgan House (listed 1972, the first), 6 historic districts with 1,072 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 1,113 historic buildings in all.
8% of Selma’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (12), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (19), 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.
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