History · Albany

Albany dates to 1836, and 22 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #76 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it

Most of Albany was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. 22 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 73 buildings between them. Below: 21 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.

1836founded

22on the National Register

4%homes built before 1940

21old photos & papers

62famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Albany’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Albany began

When was Albany founded?

1836

Albany dates its founding to 1836 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 1,618 in 18602020 census: 69,647190 years

How historic is Albany?

More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1842.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Albany’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Albany is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #76 of 263 in Georgia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Albany’s overall grade.

Founding era1836, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 19403.7% of homes (±0.9) · typical GA town 3.8% · U.S. 8.4%C National Register22 listings, 94 historic buildings, 14.0 per 10,000 residents · typical GA town 10.0 · U.S. 2.4B⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 64%

NewerOlder

Georgia towns of 2,500+ (263)Ahead of 71%

Georgia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Georgia town has 10.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Albany’s 14.0 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 94 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1836.

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 Albany’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Landmarks on the Register22 places on the National Register.Lost villages120 hamlets and corners are still on the map.A historic districtThe Downtown Albany Commercial Historic District takes in 71 historic buildings.A town in old photos21 old photos, postcards and papers, 1885–1940.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

22 listings protect 94 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1974

Municipal Auditorium

BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Second Renaissance Revival2

Georgian Revival2

Lustron2

Art Deco1

Classical Italianate1

Wrightian Prairie School1

Municipal AuditoriumArt Deco · Built 1915

Bridge HouseClassical Italianate

Union DepotWrightian Prairie School

Old St. Teresa's Catholic ChurchBuilding

W. E. Smith HouseBuilding

Samuel Farkas HouseSecond Empire

U.S. Post Office and CourthouseSecond Renaissance Revival

John A. Davis HouseItalianate Villa

All 22 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Albany’s post office has been open since 1842.

Hamlets and corners on the map

AudubonAvalonAvert AcresAvondaleAvondale AcresAzalea TerraceBaker HeightsBrentwoodBrierwoodBrookhollowBrookwoodButler SubdivisionCatalina Beach EstatesCedar HeightsCedar LakeCherokee HeightsClearviewCleveland HeightsCoachman ParkColonial PlaceColonial VillageCountry Club EstatesDawson HeightsDixie Heights

Gone or out of use

Albany AcademyschoolAlbany Naval Air StationmilitaryFlint Street Grammar SchoolschoolTurner Air Force Basemilitary

6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Albany

CarverCrown HillFloral Memory GardensOakviewRiversideRoselawn Garden of Memory

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Albany came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Albany.

Read it all →

Albany is located in a region which was long inhabited by the Creek Indians, who called it Thronateeska after their word for "flint", the valuable mineral found in beds near the Flint River. They used it for making arrowheads and other tools. In 1830, U.S. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, and the United States made treaties to extinguish Creek and other Native American land claims in the Southeast. The U.S. Army forcibly removed most of the native peoples to Indian Territory, lands west of the Mississippi River.

ChaptersNelson Tift Carey Wentworth Styles 20th century to present

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Albany, 1836 to 1978

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1836
FoundingAlbany is established
1842Post officeThe Albany post office opens
1885In the archiveView of the city of Albany, Ga. (the Artesian City) county-seat of Dougherty-County. 1885
20th century
1900In the archiveThe Georgia Negro
1906BuiltCarnegie Library of Albany is built
1908BuiltSt. Nicholas Hotel is built
1915BuiltMunicipal Auditorium is built
1916Born hereHarry James is born here
1917In the archiveGeorgia - Atlanta
1923Born hereAlice Coachman is born here
1930Born hereRay Charles is born here
1936In the archiveWashington Street Looking South at Night Albany, Georgia GA Postcard
1940In the archiveFlorida [Sarasota County (part) - Washington County] -- Georgia [Appling County - Effingh…
1949BuiltLustron House at 1200 Fifth Avenue is built
1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1978Born hereAngelo Taylor is born here

By decade

Albany, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1900s5 items

View of the city of Albany, Ga. (the Artesian City) county-seat of Dougherty-County. 1885

1885View of the city of Albany, Ga. (the Artesian City) c…

1887Seal of

1900The Georgia Negro

[The Georgia Negro] Albany, Dougherty County, Ga. Distribution of 2,500 Negro inhabitants

1900[The Georgia Negro] Albany, Dougherty County, Ga. Dis…

1910s–1940s16 items

1917Georgia - Atlanta

Washington Street Looking South at Night Albany, Georgia GA Postcard

1936Washington Street Looking South at Night Albany, Geor…Postcard

Florida [Sarasota County (part) - Washington County] -- Georgia [Appling County - Effingham County (part)]

1940Florida [Sarasota County (part) - Washington County] …

1940Georgia

1950s–1990snothing yet

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.

Add from your album

On the map

Albany on the map, 1956 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Albany. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1956Albany West sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Albany.

Every building

Albany, building by building, 1885–1920

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Albany fire insurance map, 1885, sheet 1

1885Sheet 1 of 4

Edition

Sheets

+3 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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 viewView of the city of Albany, Ga. (the Artesian City) county-seat of Dougherty-County. 1885, 1885

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Albany’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Albany, census by census

Between 1,618 and 78,122 people in every census since 1860.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Albany’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

62 famous people were born in Albany

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Ray CharlesAmerican singer, pianist and songwriter · b. 1930

Alice CoachmanAmerican high jumper · b. 1923

Angelo TaylorAmerican track and field athlete · b. 1978

Harry JamesAmerican trumpeter, big band leader · b. 1916

Phillip PhillipsAmerican singer · b. 1990

Paula DeenAmerican cook, cooking show host, restaurateur,… · b. 1947

Help out

Finish Albany’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

4 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewView of the city of Albany, Ga. (the Ar…: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Albany’s history

What year was Albany founded?

In 1836, according to Wikidata. Albany’s post office opened in 1842, and the census of 1860 counted 1,618 people here.

How does Albany rank for history?

Albany is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #76 of 263 in Georgia. 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 Albany?

22 listings: 19 buildings, among them the Municipal Auditorium (listed 1974, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Albany Railroad Depot Historic District, the Tift Park and the Downtown Albany Commercial Historic District, with 73 contributing buildings. 94 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Albany?

4% of Albany’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1974.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (20), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (22), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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