Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 43 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1940 on.
The Colbert post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Five Forks (1892), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Colbert’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Colbert.
The Georgia General Assembly first incorporated the place in 1899 as the "Town of Five Forks"; it was officially renamed "Colbert" in 1909 by a new act of legislature. The present name is after James Fletcher Colbert, an early settler.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Colbert’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Colbert itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Colbert’s post office has been open since 1902. Another post office, Five Forks, 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 Colbert post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the Colbert Historic District (listed 1984) and the Colbert School (2001).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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