The story
Read it all →How Auburn came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Auburn.
Auburn incorporated in 1892 soon after the railroad was extended to that point.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Auburn
Auburn’s post office opened in 1837, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 55% of U.S. towns · #97 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Auburn was built recently: 0.7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 22 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1964 on, and the census since 1900.
1837first post office
1on the National Register
0.7%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Quick answers
How Auburn began
When was Auburn founded?
1837
The Auburn post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Laughridge (1825), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 161 in 19002020 census: 7,495189 years
How historic is Auburn?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 55% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Auburn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Auburn’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Auburn is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #97 of 263 in Georgia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Auburn’s overall grade.
Founding era1837, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19400.7% of homes (±0.8) · typical GA town 3.8% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register1 listing, 22 historic buildings, 25.3 per 10,000 residents · typical GA town 10.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 55%
NewerOlder
Georgia towns of 2,500+ (263)Ahead of 63%
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 Auburn’s 25.3 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 22 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 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 Auburn’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Auburn’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Auburn’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the National Register
1 listing protects 22 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
22
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Auburn Historic District
Districts
Architectural styles listings
Bungalow/Craftsman1
Queen Anne1
Folk Victorian1
Georgian1
Gabled Ell Cottage1
I-House1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Timeline
Auburn, 1825 to 1964
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1825Post officeThe Laughridge post office opens
- 1837Post officeThe Laughridge post office closes
- 1837Post officeThe Auburn post office opens
- 20th century
- 1940
In the archiveFlorida [Sarasota County (part) - Washington County] -- Georgia [Appling County - Effingh… - 1964
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Auburn, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 albumOn the map
Auburn on the map, 1964 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Auburn. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1964Auburn sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Auburn.
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.
![Florida [Sarasota County (part) - Washington County] -- Georgia [Appling County - Effingham County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/2850/8d20f913295768186014-l.jpg)
Retake this viewFlorida [Sarasota County (part) - Washington County] -- Georgia [Appling County - Effingham County (part)], 1940
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Auburn’s page.
Retake this view · +15People over time
Auburn, census by census
Grew from 161 people in 1900 to 7,495 in 2020, more than tenfold.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Auburn’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Auburn
Nobody well known was born in Auburn itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Auburn’s post office has been open since 1837. Another post office, Laughridge, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Laughridge
Auburn
18201920today
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Auburn
Applachee BaptistHarmony Grove United Methodist ChurchMidway Methodist
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Auburn’s history
What year was Auburn founded?
The Auburn post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Auburn rank for history?
Auburn is more historic than 55% of U.S. towns, #97 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 Auburn?
One place: the Auburn Historic District (listed 1997).
How old are the homes in Auburn?
0.7% of Auburn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1994.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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.