Most of Keystone Heights was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Below: maps from 1949 on and the census since 1930.
Founding year: the first Keystone Heights post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Keystone Heights’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Keystone Heights is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Keystone Heights’ 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 Keystone Heights’ 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 C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.6 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 Keystone Heights’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1917, the area that would eventually become known as the city of Keystone Heights was a small community known as "Brooklyn" located along present day State Road 100, about one mile north of the present location of Keystone Heights on Lake Brooklyn.
The community consisted of a large unpainted building called the Brooklyn Hotel; a combination general store and post office; and several small houses scattered about. Property developer John J. Lawrence, who hailed from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, noticed the area on a visit to Lake Brooklyn, and instantly became attracted to the region.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Keystone Heights. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1949Keystone Heights 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 Keystone Heights.
People over time
Keystone Heights, census by census
Grew from 107 people in 1930 to 1,446 in 2020, more than tenfold.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Keystone Heights’ Wikipedia page.
Famous people
Famous people close to Keystone Heights
Nobody well known was born in Keystone Heights itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Keystone Heights’s post office has been open since 1924.
Gone or out of use
Keystone Heights Junior/Senior High Schoolschool
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Keystone Heights’ history
What year was Keystone Heights founded?
The Keystone Heights post office opened in 1924, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Keystone Heights rank for history?
Keystone Heights is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns. 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 Keystone Heights?
4% of Keystone Heights’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (4), Wikipedia, 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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