Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 13% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Sewall's Point was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1960.
The Sewall's Point post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Sewalls Point (1891) and Port Sewall (1914), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 13% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sewall's Point is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns. 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 Sewall's Point’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 Sewall's Point’s history is told.
Two other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Sewall's Point.
Both Sewall's Point and the peninsula are named for Captain Henry Edwin Sewall.
On September 26, 2004, Hurricane Jeanne made landfall on Hutchinson Island, just east of Sewall's Point, exactly three weeks after Hurricane Frances did so at the same location.
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 archiveSt. Lucie River Inlet
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sewall's Point. 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 Sewall's Point.
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 Sewall's Point’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 151 and 1,996 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sewall's Point’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Sewall's Point itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Sewall's Point post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Sewall's Point is more historic than 13% 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.
0.0% of Sewall's Point’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1989.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (1), 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.
2015
