The story so far
Augusta, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Augusta yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 200,549 to 206,607 (+3%).
A−History
History · Augusta
50 of Augusta’s places are on the National Register
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #49 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Augusta was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1965 on and old-book passages.
50on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Augusta’s history
How historic is Augusta?
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What drives the grade ↓More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Augusta’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Augusta is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #49 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Augusta’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 19407.3% of homes (±0.7) · typical GA town 3.8% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register50 listings, 5,866 historic buildings, 285 per 10,000 residents · typical GA town 10.0 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 75%
NewerOlder
Georgia towns of 2,500+ (263)Ahead of 82%
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Augusta ranks #146 on History.
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 Augusta’s 285 sits above most of its state (83% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 5,866 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±0.7 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Augusta’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A National Historic Landmark50 places on the National Register, 6 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Summerville Historic District takes in 1,250 historic buildings.Lost villages10 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Augusta, and 139 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Augusta are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · On the National Register
50 listings protect 5,866 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 6 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
places listed
50
National Historic Landmarks
6
Augusta Canal Industrial District
historic buildings protected
5,866
each building in a district counts
first listed
1969
Harris-Pearson-Walker House
BuildingsDistricts★ landmark
Architectural styles listings
Greek Revival9
Federal8
Italianate7
Colonial Revival6
Classical Revival4
Romanesque4
★ LandmarkAugusta Canal Industrial DistrictDistrict
★ LandmarkCollege HillBuilt 1795
★ LandmarkStephen Vincent Benet HouseFederal
★ LandmarkOld Medical College BuildingGreek Revival
★ LandmarkMeadow GardenSand Hills Cottage
★ LandmarkWoodrow Wilson Boyhood HomeClassical Revival
Harris-Pearson-Walker HouseAmerican Georgian
Sacred Heart Catholic ChurchRomanesque
All 50 listings
First Baptist Church of AugustaBuilding · listed 1972Gertrude Herbert Art InstituteBuilding · listed 1973Academy of Richmond CountyBuilding · listed 1973Brahe HouseBuilding · listed 1973St. Paul's Episcopal ChurchBuilding · listed 1973Augusta Cotton Exchange BuildingBuilding · listed 1978Old Richmond County CourthouseBuilding · listed 1978Lamar BuildingBuilding · listed 1979Augusta National Golf Club/FruitlandsDistrict · listed 1979Gould-Weed HouseBuilding · listed 1979Reid-Jones-Carpenter HouseBuilding · listed 1979Pinched Gut Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1980Broad Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1980Summerville Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1980Greene Street Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1980Springfield Baptist ChurchBuilding · listed 1982Laney-Walker North Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1985Engine Company Number OneBuilding · listed 1988Seclusaval and Windsor SpringDistrict · listed 1988Harrisburg-West End Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1990Joseph Darling HouseBuilding · listed 1991Tubman High SchoolBuilding · listed 1994Joseph Rucker Lamar Boyhood HomeBuilding · listed 1996Shiloh OrphanageBuilding · listed 1996First Presbyterian Church of AugustaBuilding · listed 1997Church of the Most Holy TrinityBuilding · listed 1997Sands Hill Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1997Liberty Methodist ChurchBuilding · listed 1997Bethlehem Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1997United States Post Office and CourthouseBuilding · listed 2000Academy of Richmond County-1926 CampusDistrict · listed 2004Augusta Downtown Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004Bath Presbyterian Church and CemeteryBuilding · listed 2004Dr. Asbury and Martha Hull HouseBuilding · listed 2018FitzSimons-Hampton HouseBuilding · listed 1976Cauley-Wheeler Memorial BuildingBuilding · listed 2008Paine College Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2012Weiss-Steinburg-Bush HouseBuilding · listed 2019Woodlawn Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2019Neuropsychiatric Infirmary – Building 76Building · listed 2020Neuropsychiatric Tuberculosis Ward-Building 7Building · listed 2020Augusta Warehouse and Compress CompanyDistrict · listed 2024
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Augusta’s post office has been open since 1793. 10 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Augusta
Belair
Richmond Bath
Mc Been
Bath
Mc Bean Depot
Allen
Gracewood
Adam
Richmond
17901910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AdamsAdventureApple ValleyAragon ParkAvondaleBarton VillageBathBayvaleBel Air HeightsBelairBellemeadBerckman HillsBerckman VillasBeverly HeightsBonairBridgeportBristol WoodBrookfield WestBrynwoodBurch GrantButler EstatesButler ManorCarmell Mobile Home ParkCarriage Court
Gone or out of use
Augusta ArsenalmilitaryAugusta Orphan AsylumbuildingAvington SchoolschoolBayvale SchoolschoolBerlin SchoolschoolBethany ChapelchurchBethesda ChurchchurchBroad Oaks SchoolschoolBurch MilllocaleBynes Chapel SchoolschoolCamp HancocklocaleCampbellton FerrycrossingCentral Baptist ChapelchurchChristian Brothers SchoolschoolChurch of the NazarenechurchCovenant SchoolschoolFort CornwallislocaleFree Holiness Churchchurch
43family graveyards and cemeteries inside Augusta
Atkins - WinterBathBrandonBurchBurchBurtonCarmichaelCedar GroveChavousClantonCosnahanCrockettDarlingDoyleFulcherFulcherGracewoodHillcrest Memorial ParkInglettJohnsonKillebrewLeitnerMagnoliaMorganMount Olive Memorial GardensMount PleasantNewmenRachelsRoberSaxonSchleySouth ViewSteadmanSummervilleTarverTinleyTwiggsUnionWalkerWalker Memorial ParkWest ViewWestover Memorial ParkWorld War Two German Prisoner of War
See all 43
Atkins - Winter Cemetery · Bath Cemetery · Brandon Cemetery · Burch Cemetery · Burch Cemetery · Burton Cemetery · Carmichael Cemetery · Cedar Grove Cemetery · Chavous Cemetery · Clanton Cemetery · Cosnahan Cemetery · Crockett Cemetery · Darling Cemetery · Doyle Cemetery · Fulcher Cemetery · Fulcher Cemetery · Gracewood Cemetery · Hillcrest Memorial Park · Inglett Cemetery · Johnson Cemetery · Killebrew Cemetery · Leitner Cemetery · Magnolia Cemetery · Morgan Cemetery · Mount Olive Memorial Gardens Cemetery · Mount Pleasant Cemetery · Newmen Cemetery · Rachels Cemetery · Rober Cemetery · Saxon Cemetery · Schley Cemetery · South View Cemetery · Steadman Cemetery · Summerville Cemetery · Tarver Cemetery · Tinley Cemetery · Twiggs Cemetery · Union Cemetery · Walker Cemetery · Walker Memorial Park · West View Cemetery · Westover Memorial Park · World War Two German Prisoner of War Cemetery
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the old history books
What they wrote about Augusta in 1890
Passages that mention Augusta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Memorial history of Augusta, Georgia1890 · page 504Read the page →
Read the text
In 1838 a railroad company named the Augusta and Waynesboro Railroad was incorporated to construct and operate a railroad " from the city of Augusta to Waynesboro, and thence to some suitable and proper point of junction with the Central Railroad." The Augusta and Waynesboro Railroad was given a perpetual charter and empowered to rent or farm out its franchises to any individual or company. In 1847 its charter was so amended as to allow it to begin construction of its line of road at any point on the line of the Central in Burke county, and thence proceed to Waynesboro, and thence to Au-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Memorial history of Augusta, Georgia1890 · page 338Read the page →
Read the text
The other ante bcllinn banks of Augusta were the Augusta Savings Bank incorporated in 1827; the Augusta Insiu-ance and Banking Company, also incorporated in 1827; the Merchants and Planters Bank also in 1827 ; the Mechanics' Bank, in 1830; the Union Bank, originally incorporated in 1836 as the Bank of Brunswick ; the Peoples Savings Bank of Augusta, in 1851; the City Bank, in 1854; and the Augusta Savings Bank, in 1855. At the outbreak of the war there were in operation, the Bank of Augusta; the Augusta Insurance and Banking Company; the Mechanics' Bank; the Union Bank; and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Augusta, 1793 to 2008
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 18th century
- 1793Post officeThe Augusta post office opens
- 1795BuiltCollege Hill is built
- 19th century
- 1802
BuiltAcademy of Richmond County is built - 1818
BuiltGertrude Herbert Art Institute is built - 1832Post officeThe Belair post office opens
- 1832Post officeThe Richmond Bath post office opens
- 1836Post officeThe Richmond Bath post office closes
- 20th century
- 1918
BuiltLamar Building is built - 1932Post officeThe Belair post office closes
- 1965
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1971LandmarkCollege Hill named a National Historic Landmark
- 1971LandmarkStephen Vincent Benet House named a National Historic Landmark
- 1977LandmarkAugusta Canal Industrial District named a National Historic Landmark
- 1981LandmarkMeadow Garden named a National Historic Landmark
- 1996LandmarkOld Medical College Building named a National Historic Landmark
- 21st century
- 2008LandmarkWoodrow Wilson Boyhood Home named a National Historic Landmark
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Augusta on the map, 1965 to 1995
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Augusta. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1965Augusta East 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 Augusta.
Help out
Start Augusta’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Augusta’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Augusta’s history
How does Augusta rank for history?
Augusta is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #49 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 Augusta?
50 listings, 6 of them National Historic Landmarks: 34 buildings, among them the Harris-Pearson-Walker House (listed 1969, the first), and 16 historic districts with 5,821 contributing buildings. 5,866 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Augusta?
7% of Augusta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (50), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.