Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #26 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 834 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1890.
The Sheffield post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, South Florence (1826) and Wilson Dam (1934), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sheffield is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #26 of 187 in Alabama. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Sheffield’s 896 sits above most of its state (99% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 837 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% 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. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Sheffield’s post office has been open since 1884. Two 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).
Peaked at 13,491 in 1960; 9,403 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sheffield’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sheffield.
Sheffield is the site of historic Helen Keller Hospital, formerly known as Colbert County Hospital, originally constructed in 1921. It was changed to Helen Keller Hospital in 1979, and Keller's birthplace Ivy Green is located less than one mile southwest of the hospital in adjacent Tuscumbia.
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 archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Alabama - Colbert County - Sheffield - ED 17-27, …BuiltMemphis & Charleston Railroad Bridge is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveFIREPLACE. - Bonner House, 2708 Tenth Avenue, Sheffield, Colbert County, AL HABS ALA,17-S…
In the archiveSheffield, Alabama. Reynolds Alloys Company. Workman
Born hereMitch McConnell is born here
Born hereFred Thompson is born here
Born hereDavid Hood is born hereBuiltNewman, E.L., Lustron House is builtBuiltMuscle Shoals Sound Studio is built3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sheffield. 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 Sheffield.
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.
1889Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn 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 Sheffield’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, 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.
The Sheffield post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Sheffield is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #26 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.
8 listings: 3 buildings, 3 historic districts, the Nitrate Village No. 1 Historic District, the Sheffield Residential Historic District and the Sheffield Downtown Commercial Historic District, with 834 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 structure. 837 historic buildings in all.
15% of Sheffield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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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