Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 264 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1864 on.
The Delaware City post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Delaware City is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
Delaware State towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Delaware State town has 29.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Delaware City’s 1,379 sits above most of its state (94% of Delaware State towns have fewer) while its 269 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% 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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJohn E. Rickards is born hereBuiltFort Dupont Historic District is built
In the archiveCivil War POW 1864
Born hereEugene Reybold is born here
In the archiveOfficer's Row, Fort Dupont, DelFrom Wikipedia’s history of Delaware City.
The Delaware City Historic District, Chelsea, Eastern Lock of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, Fairview, and Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Delaware City’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Delaware City’s post office has been open since 1826.
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.
The Delaware City post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Delaware City is more historic than 94% 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.
6 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island (listed 1971, the first), 2 historic districts, the Delaware City Historic District and the Fort Dupont Historic District, with 264 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 269 historic buildings in all.
25% of Delaware City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Delaware State town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1864
1864
1900
1900
