Founding year: the first Boston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Boston’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Boston is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Boston’s overall grade.
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 Boston’s 1,263 sits above most of its state (97% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 192 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 points). 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 Boston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Boston was incorporated by the Georgia General Assembly in 1870. An early variant name was "Blue Springs"; the present name is after Thomas M. Boston, who found a medicinal spring near the town site. Boston is home to one of the original Carnegie Libraries, and one of a handful in Georgia that is still being used as a library. Boston is also home to the Dillon Candy Company, the oldest candy company in Georgia that began operations in 1918.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Boston. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1957Thomasville 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 Boston.
Every building
Boston, building by building, 1898–1916
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.
1898Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Famous people
2 famous people were born in Boston
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Boston post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Boston rank for history?
Boston is more historic than 89% 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.
What is on the National Register in Boston?
One place: the Boston Historic District (listed 2007).
How old are the homes in Boston?
14% of Boston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1985.
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 (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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