Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns · #155 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Ocoee was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Its Register listings are the Withers-Maguire House and the Ocoee Christian Church. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1920.
The Ocoee post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 31% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ocoee is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #155 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold 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 Ocoee’s 0.4 sits above most of its state (69% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 Ocoee’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ocoee.
In the mid-1850s, Dr. J.D. Starke, stricken with malaria, took a group of slaves, similarly stricken, to the north side of an open, pine-wooded lake that provided clear and clean water to avoid further malaria outbreaks. The camp built by the group provided a base of operations from which to commute during the day to work the fields near Lake Apopka and rest at night.
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.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Florida - Orange County - Ocoee - ED 48-56
In the archiveFlorida [Hamilton County - Sarasota County (part)]
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereCap Capi is born here
Born hereJonathan Jones is born here2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ocoee. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ocoee.
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 Ocoee’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 815 people in 1920 to 47,295 in 2020, more than tenfold.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ocoee’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Ocoee’s post office has been open since 1883.
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 Ocoee post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Ocoee is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #155 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.
Two places: the Withers-Maguire House (listed 1987) and the Ocoee Christian Church (1997).
0.9% of Ocoee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2000.
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 (7), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
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