Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1860.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lake Butler’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Butler is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lake Butler’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 Lake Butler’s 25.0 sits above most of its state (89% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.9 points). Two sources give 1859.
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 Lake Butler’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The city was founded in 1859, and the land was platted for settlement the same year. A post office called "Lake Butler" has been in operation since 1860. The post office's namesake was adopted by the community, and is named after the city's nearby lake, which in turn was named for Robert Butler, who was a colonel and commander for the U.S. Army, as well as an acting governor of East Florida. The City of Lake Butler was officially incorporated as a municipality on May 1893.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lake Butler.
Every building
Lake Butler, building by building, 1913–1920
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 year, then a sheet.
1913Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
People over time
Lake Butler, census by census
Between 431 and 2,116 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lake Butler’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
5 famous people were born in Lake Butler
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
In 1859, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lake Butler’s post office opened in 1860, and the census of 1900 counted 431 people here.
How does Lake Butler rank for history?
Lake Butler is more historic than 66% 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.
What is on the National Register in Lake Butler?
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Townsend Building (listed 1992, the first).
How old are the homes in Lake Butler?
17% of Lake Butler’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
