More historic than 3% of U.S. towns · #581 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Doctor Phillips was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1990.
Founding year: the first Doctor Phillips post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Doctor Phillips’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Doctor Phillips is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #581 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Doctor Phillips’ 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 Doctor Phillips’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (33% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Doctor Phillips’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Doctor Phillips yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Dr. Phillips or Doctor Phillips is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of Orlando and is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 12,328 at the 2020 census. The area of Dr. Phillips is named after Philip Phillips, a Central Florida citrus magnate. He was responsible for several key innovations in the processing and packaging of orange juice. By the early 1920s, he owned thousands of acres of groves, stretching across nine Central Florida counties and extending from Conroy Road on the north to the south end of the Sand Lake Chain, encompassing all of what is now B…
Its first post office opened in 1929. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 10,981 to 12,328 (+12%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Doctor Phillips, 1929 to 1959
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Doctor Phillips. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Lake Jessamine 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 Doctor Phillips.
People over time
Doctor Phillips, census by census
Between 7,963 and 12,328 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Doctor Phillips’ Wikipedia page.
Famous people
Famous people close to Doctor Phillips
Nobody well known was born in Doctor Phillips itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Doctor Phillips post office opened in 1929, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Doctor Phillips rank for history?
Doctor Phillips is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #581 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.
How old are the homes in Doctor Phillips?
0.0% of Doctor Phillips’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1997.
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 (6), 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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