Dalton’s post office opened in 1847, and 9 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #52 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Dalton was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. 9 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 298 buildings between them. Below: 16 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
The Dalton post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Cross Plains (1837) and Crow (1888), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 1,649 in 18602020 census: 34,417179 years
How historic is Dalton?
B+
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Dalton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Dalton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dalton is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #52 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 Dalton’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 Dalton’s 87.7 sits above most of its state (69% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 303 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% 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 (±2.4 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 Dalton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Dalton, building by building, 1885–1925
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.
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.
Woodland Indians and Creek Nation initially held the area of present-day Dalton, Georgia. The first recorded white man in the area was Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto (1540). By the mid-18th century, when the Cherokee forced the Creek Nation out of their homelands, to the west and south, the Cherokee Indians called the mountains of north Georgia their "Enchanted Land" until their own forced removal in 1838.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Dalton’s post office has been open since 1847. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Cross Plains
1837–1847
Dalton
1847–today
Crow
1888–1905
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cannon Heights
Gone or out of use
Boylston Crown SchoolschoolCrawford High SchoolschoolDalton Grade SchoolschoolEmory Street High SchoolschoolEmory Street Public SchoolschoolMillers MilllocaleMorris Street Methodist Episcopal ChurchchurchNorth Dalton Public Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Dalton
Old PresbyterianWest HillWhitfield Memorial Gardens
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Dalton’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The Dalton post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Dalton rank for history?
Dalton is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #52 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 Dalton?
9 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Western and Atlantic Depot (listed 1978, the first), and 4 historic districts with 298 contributing buildings. 303 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Dalton?
6% of Dalton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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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