Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #81 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Bagdad was built recently: 0.7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 143 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1920 on, and the census since 1980.
The Bagdad post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bagdad is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #81 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bagdad’s 320 sits above most of its state (99% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 143 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bagdad’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bagdad. 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 Bagdad.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bagdad.
Bagdad had its start in 1840, when a settler established a sawmill there. The town was named after Baghdad, Iraq by lumber businessman Joseph Forsyth, A post office called Bagdad has been in operation since 1887.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. 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 Bagdad’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,479 people in 1980 to 4,467 in 2020, 3 times over.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bagdad’s Wikipedia page.
Bagdad’s post office has been open since 1887.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Bagdad post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Bagdad is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #81 of 638 in Florida. 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.
One place: the Bagdad Village Historic District (listed 1987).
0.7% of Bagdad’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2005.
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 National Register of Historic Places (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.
2005
2004