Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #294 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Minneola was built recently: 0.1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2007. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1970 on, and the census since 1930.
The Minneola post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Mohawk (1892), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Minneola is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #294 of 638 in Florida. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Minneola’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.
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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Minneola’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Minneola.
Before European colonization and settlement, the area which is today Minneola was originally inhabited by the indigenous Timucua people. The population of the Timucua were whittled by epidemics of infectious diseases introduced by Europeans, then by attacks and slave raids largely conducted under Spanish colonial rule.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2017Minneola Grill
2017Minneola City Hall
2017Lake County Sheriff's Office Minneola District
2011Minneola FL US 27 south01
2011Minneola FL US 27 north01
2011Minneola FL US 27 and Turnpike north01
2004FLMap-doton-Minneola
2003Road photo from June 7, 2003 34
2003Road photo from June 7, 2003 33
2002Road photo from August 17, 2002 134
2002Road photo from August 17, 2002 133The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Minneola.
1970Clermont East sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Minneola.
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 Minneola’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 185 people in 1930 to 13,843 in 2020, more than tenfold.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Minneola’s Wikipedia page.
Minneola’s post office has been open since 1883. Another post office, Mohawk, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Minneola post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Minneola is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #294 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.
0.1% of Minneola’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2007.
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 (12), 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.
