Daytona Beach dates to 1870, and 27 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns · #49 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Daytona Beach was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. 27 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Mary McLeod Bethune Home, a National Historic Landmark, and eight historic districts with 1,639 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1916 on, and the census since 1910.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1871.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Daytona Beach’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Daytona Beach is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #49 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Daytona Beach’s overall grade.
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 Daytona Beach’s 211 sits above most of its state (97% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 1,663 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1870.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size.
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 →
What stands out about Daytona Beach’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Daytona Beach’s post office has been open since 1905. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Daytona
1871–1925
Blake
1878–1888
Halifax
1887–1894
Seabreeze
1894–1925
Daytona Beach
1905–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BlakeCarriage Cove Mobile Home ParkColonial Colony North Mobile Home ParkColonial Colony South Mobile Home ParkCozy Circle Trailer ParkMansfield Mobile Home ParkOrtonaRobin Hood Terrace Mobile Home ParkSeabreezeSherwood Del Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Daytona Beach General Mail Facilitypost officeNaval Air Station Daytona BeachmilitaryWMFJ-AM - Daytona Beachtower
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Daytona Beach
Bellevue MemorialCedar HillConeDaytona Memorial ParkGreenwoodMount AraratPinewood
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
At the time of European contact, the area where Daytona Beach is located was inhabited by the Freshwater people, a branch of the Timucua. The town of Nocoroco in what is now Tomoka State Park was the most important in the region. The villages of Caçaroy and Cicale were a short distance south of there. The southernmost Timucua town was Caparaca, in present-day New Smyrna Beach. There were only small hamlets between Cicale and Caparaca. Turtle Mound, 14 miles (23 km) south of New Smyrna Beach, was the site of the town of Surruque, belonging to the Surruque people, whose territory extended south to Cape Canaveral. Like other Indigenous peoples in Florida, the Freshwater Timucua and Surruque were nearly exterminated by contact with Europeans through war, enslavement (the Spanish enslaved some Surruque war captives in 1598), and disease and became extinct as racial entities through assimilat…
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Daytona Beach. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1952Daytona Beach sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Daytona Beach.
Every building
Daytona Beach, building by building, 1916
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 sheet.
In 1870, according to Wikidata. Daytona Beach’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1910 counted 331 people here.
How does Daytona Beach rank for history?
Daytona Beach is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #49 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.
What is on the National Register in Daytona Beach?
27 listings: 17 buildings, among them the Mary McLeod Bethune Home (a National Historic Landmark since 1974), 8 historic districts with 1,639 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 structure. 1,663 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Daytona Beach?
5% of Daytona Beach’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (27), 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.
★ Landmark
c. 1875
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