Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #33 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of High Springs was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 218 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1900.
The High Springs post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Wade (1893) and Clark (1894), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, High Springs is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #33 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 High Springs’ 333 sits above most of its state (99% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 218 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% 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 High Springs’s history is told.
High Springs’s post office has been open since 1888. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of High Springs.
The present-day area of High Springs was first settled on a permanent basis by English-speaking people during the late 1830s. One of the earliest settlements in the vicinity was at Crockett Springs, located about three miles east of present-day High Springs. Settlers who were living there during the 1840s included Fernando Underwood and Marshal Blanton.
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.
In the archiveConnecticut -New Haven County - -Windham County- -- Delaware -entire state- -- District o…
Born hereCharlie Huggins is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of High Springs. 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 High Springs.
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.
1913Sheet 2 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 High Springs’ page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,562 people in 1900 to 6,215 in 2020, 3 times over.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on High Springs’ Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The High Springs post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
High Springs is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #33 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 High Springs Historic District (listed 1991).
8% of High Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2002.
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 (7), 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), 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.
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