More historic than 13% of U.S. towns · #301 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Midway was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1990.
Founding year: the first Midway post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Midway’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Midway is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #301 of 638 in Florida. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Midway’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 Midway’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 C. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 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 Midway’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Midway has a long history going back to the early days of Florida, such as contact by Spanish explorer conquistadors, wars against Native Americans by colonizers (like the Seminole Wars), and slavery. It's speculated that the name "Midway" was chosen because its location is midway between Pensacola and Jacksonville or between Quincy and Tallahassee. But in the 1800s, the community was actually called Salubrity. The Old Spanish Trail still goes through the city.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Midway. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1954Tallahassee sheet · 1:250,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Midway.
People over time
Midway, census by census
Grew from 852 people in 1990 to 3,537 in 2020, 4 times over.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Midway’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Midway’s history
What year was Midway founded?
The Midway post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Midway rank for history?
Midway is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #301 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 Midway?
0.0% of Midway’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2005.
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 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.
