Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0More historic than 38% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Town Creek was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1936 on, and the census since 1880.
The Town Creek post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 38% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Town Creek is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Town Creek’s 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.
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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Town Creek’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Town Creek.
Town Creek was established in the first half of the 19th century, and was originally known as "Jonesboro" after an early settler, William Jones. It incorporated in 1875.
Town Creek has one site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Goode-Hall House, to the north of town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Town Creek. 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 Town Creek.
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 Town Creek’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 150 and 1,379 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Town Creek’s Wikipedia page.
Town Creek’s post office has been open since 1827.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Town Creek post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Town Creek is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. 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% of Town Creek’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (1), 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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