Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #160 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Douglasville was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 35 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1880.
The Douglasville post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1875.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Douglasville is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #160 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 Douglasville’s 10.1 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 38 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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.
Douglasville’s post office has been open since 1873.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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.
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.
1895Sheet 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 Douglasville.
Douglasville was founded in 1874 as the railroad was constructed in the area. That same year, Douglasville was designated as the county seat of the recently formed Douglas County. The community was named for Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois.
Georgia General Assembly first incorporated Douglasville in 1875.
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.
BuiltCol. William T. Roberts House is built
In the archive3-4 view of front and side, 6286 Cooper St., facing southeast (120 degrees) - 6286 Cooper…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMatt Capps is born here
Born herePriscilla Kelly is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Douglasville. 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 Douglasville.
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 Douglasville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 286 people in 1880 to 34,650 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Douglasville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Douglasville post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1875.
Douglasville is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #160 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Col. William T. Roberts House (listed 1989, the first), and 1 historic district, the Douglasville Commercial Historic District, with 35 contributing buildings. 38 historic buildings in all.
0.8% of Douglasville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
1933
1933
1933
1933
