New Smyrna Beach dates to 1768, and 8 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #14 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of New Smyrna Beach was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. 8 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 395 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1833.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Smyrna Beach’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Smyrna Beach is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #14 of 638 in Florida. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Smyrna Beach’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 New Smyrna Beach’s 124 sits above most of its state (95% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 398 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1768.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A+. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size.
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 New Smyrna Beach’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
New Smyrna Beach’s post office has been open since 1937. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
New Smyrna
1833–1937
Hawks Park
1884–1925
Coronado Beach
1890–1947
New Smyrna Beach
1937–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
IsleboroNew SmyrnaOcean Aire Estates Mobile Home ParkQuail Hollow Mobile Home ParkRedland Estates Mobile Home CommunitySugar Mill EstatesSugar Mill Mobile Home ParkWhite Bird Mobile Home Park
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside New Smyrna Beach
The area was first settled by Europeans in 1768, when Scottish physician Dr. Andrew Turnbull, a friend of James Grant, the governor of British East Florida, established the colony of New Smyrna. Dr. Turnbull had married Gracia Dura Bin (some sources give her name as Maria Gracia Rubini), the daughter of a Greek London merchant from the Ottoman city of Smyrna (modern-day İzmir in Turkey) and named the settlement in honor of his wife's birthplace. (A number of the immigrants in his future labor force were Greeks from the Mani peninsula). No one had previously attempted to settle so many people at one time in a town in North America.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Smyrna Beach. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1943Port Orange sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of New Smyrna Beach.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewBee hives, New Smyrna, Florida, 1870
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on New Smyrna Beach’s page.
In 1768, according to Wikidata. New Smyrna Beach’s post office opened in 1833, and the census of 1880 counted 119 people here.
How does New Smyrna Beach rank for history?
New Smyrna Beach is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #14 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.
What is on the National Register in New Smyrna Beach?
8 listings: 3 buildings, 2 historic districts, the New Smyrna Beach Historic District and the Coronado Historic District, with 395 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 2 structures. 398 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in New Smyrna Beach?
3% of New Smyrna Beach’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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) 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.
1904
1904
1904
