Buford’s post office opened in 1871, and 6 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #140 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Buford was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1921 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Buford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Buford’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Buford is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #140 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Buford’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 Buford’s 8.3 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 15 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.9 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 Buford’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1890, then grew more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Buford’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Buford’s post office has been open since 1871.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Buford Horizons Mobile Home ParkGravel SpringsGreen CrossingNorthwest HarborPebble BrookRest HavenRock Creek EstatesSagefieldSpringlake EstatesWoodbriar East
Gone or out of use
Bristol Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Buford
HillcrestSmithSudderthWheeler
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Buford appears in historical records beginning in the early 19th century. The area that is now Buford was originally part of Cherokee territory. Despite the treaty in 1817 that ceded the territory to the United States and Gwinnett County's legislative establishment in 1818, the area was still largely inhabited by the Cherokee until the 1830s. The first non-Native Americans moved to the Buford area in the late 1820s or early 1830s, although the Buford area was not largely settled by them until the 1860s.
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.
The Buford post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Buford rank for history?
Buford is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #140 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 Buford?
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Bowman-Pirkle House (listed 1973, the first), and 1 site. 15 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Buford?
5% of Buford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.9 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1996.
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 (10), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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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