Cartersville dates to 1832, and 14 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #58 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Cartersville was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. 14 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Etowah Mounds, a National Historic Landmark, and four historic districts with 347 buildings between them. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1846.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cartersville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cartersville is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #58 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cartersville’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 Cartersville’s 151 sits above most of its state (76% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 364 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% 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 (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1832.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Cartersville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Atco Post Officepost officeAtco Public SchoolschoolCartersville Grade SchoolschoolChurch of GodchurchDouglas Street Grade SchoolschoolHowell Quillian Clinichospital
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cartersville
Corinth Baptist ChurchDouthit FamilyOak HillPettit Creek Baptist Church
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Cartersville, originally known as Birmingham, was founded by English-Americans in 1832. The town was incorporated as Cartersville in 1854. The present name is for Col. Farish Carter of Milledgeville, the owner of a large plantation. Cartersville was the long-time home of Amos Akerman, U.S. attorney general under President Ulysses S. Grant; in that office Akerman spearheaded the federal prosecution of members of the Ku Klux Klan and was one of the most important public servants of the Reconstruction era.
Cartersville was designated the seat of Bartow County in 1867 following the destruction of Cassville by Sherman's March to the Sea in the American Civil War. Cartersville was incorporated as a city in 1872.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cartersville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1906Stilesboro 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 Cartersville.
Every building
Cartersville, building by building, 1885–1916
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.
1885Sheet 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.
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 viewCivil-War-pow1864, 1864
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cartersville’s page.
In 1832, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Cartersville’s post office opened in 1846, and the census of 1870 counted 2,232 people here.
How does Cartersville rank for history?
Cartersville is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #58 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 Cartersville?
14 listings: 9 buildings, 4 historic districts with 347 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 364 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Cartersville?
4% of Cartersville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (14), 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.
★ Landmark
1864
1968
1968
2013
2013
2011
2006
2005
