More historic than 7% of U.S. towns · #442 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Fern Park was built recently: 0.7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1980.
Founding year: the first Fern Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Fern Park’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fern Park is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #442 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fern Park’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 Fern Park’s 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 (±1.0 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 Fern Park’s 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 Fern Park yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fern Park is a census-designated place and a suburban unincorporated community in Seminole County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, Fern Park had a population of 8,205. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Its first post office opened in 1928. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 7,704 to 8,205 (+7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Fern Park, 1928 to 1986
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Fern Park post office opened in 1928, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Fern Park rank for history?
Fern Park is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #442 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 Fern Park?
0.7% of Fern Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 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.
