Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #28 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Cedartown was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. 6 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 543 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
The Cedartown post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Greenwood (1878), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cedartown is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #28 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Cedartown’s 535 sits above most of its state (90% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 547 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cedartown’s history is told.
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 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cedartown.
Cherokee and Creek Native Americans first inhabited the area known as Cedar Valley. The Cherokee people had established a village there in the 1830s after the Native Americans were forced out on the Trail of Tears. The settlement was named for the red cedar timber near the site.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWilliam J. Harris is born here
In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Georgia (GA) - Polk County - Cedartown - ED 115-1…
Born hereSterling Holloway is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereSam Hunt is born here
Born hereNick Chubb is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBook
2008School sign 9.19.2008
2008FEMA - 34791 - Residents in the Disaster Recovery Cen…
2008FEMA - 34790 - Disaster Recovery Center workers in Ge…
2007DowntownCedartown
2005GAMap-doton-Cedartown
2004Water Tower
2004Polk County Sign
2004Courthouse of Polk County, Georgia
2004Bus Station
2003Cedartown Fire Department (Ford E-One Pumper)Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cedartown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cedartown.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cedartown’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 323 people in 1870 to 10,190 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cedartown’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Cedartown’s post office has been open since 1833. Another post office, Greenwood, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Cedartown post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Cedartown is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #28 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.
6 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Hawkes Children's Library (listed 1980, the first), and 4 historic districts with 543 contributing buildings. 547 historic buildings in all.
9% of Cedartown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1974.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (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.
