Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: JJonahJackalope · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 26% of U.S. towns · #181 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Dunwoody was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 6 buildings. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1980.
The Dunwoody post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 2008.
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dunwoody is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #181 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 Dunwoody’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (38% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% 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.
Dunwoody had its own post office from 1881 to 1968.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dunwoody’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Dunwoody.
The Dunwoody area was established in the early 1830s and is named for Major Charles Dunwody (1828–1905), an extra "o" added with the incorrect spelling of the name on a banking note. Charles Dunwody originally returned to Roswell after fighting in the Civil War, in which he fought for the Confederates.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereDavid Shafer is born here
Born hereWill Heller is born here
2024Brooks Run Skate Park
2022Dunwoody GA Skyline, August 2022
2022Ashford Dunwoody Road, June 2022
2021Sandy Springs transit station sign
2021Rotary International sign
2021Mulled cider scented candle
2021McPherson's Divergent Line of March
2021I-285 at Ashford Dunwoody Road diverging diamond inte…
2021Dunwoody city limits sign
2018Ice cream with two spoons
2017Ashford Dunwoody Road, Dunwody, GA July 2017
2012Vodka Martini, Macaroni Grill
2012Bellini Cipriani, Macaroni Grill
20127 and 7, Macaroni Grill
2011WintersChapel
2009Perimeter Center Parkway
2009NWS Dunwoody tornado 2
2009Dunwoody, GA
2009Dunwoody, GA
2009Dunwoody, GA
2009Dunwoody MARTA sign
2009Atlanta skyline from
2008Red-shouldered hawk in
2007DUNWOODYEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dunwoody. 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 Dunwoody.
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.
Grew from 17,768 people in 1980 to 51,683 in 2020.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dunwoody’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Dunwoody post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 2008.
Dunwoody is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #181 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.
Two places: the Cheek-Spruill House (listed 2000) and the Donaldson-Bannister House and Cemetery (2009).
0.5% of Dunwoody’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (24), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) 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.
