Founding year: the first Wallace post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Wallace’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wallace is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #438 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wallace’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 Wallace’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 still be D. The pre-1940 share (±1.4 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 Wallace’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wallace. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1920Milton 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 Wallace.
The story so far
Wallace, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Wallace yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Wallace is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States. Its population was 3,868 at the 2020 census, and it is part of the Pensacola—Ferry Pass—Brent, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,785 to 3,868 (+117%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Wallace, 1904 to 1920
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Wallace post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Wallace rank for history?
Wallace is more historic than 7% of U.S. towns, #438 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 Wallace?
0.9% of Wallace’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2011.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
