Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns · #7 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
12 places in town are on the National Register, among them five historic districts with 254 buildings between them. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1810.
Greensboro dates its founding to 1780 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1810.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greensboro is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #7 of 263 in Georgia. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Greensboro’s 732 sits above most of its state (94% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 264 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
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 Greensboro.
Greensboro was founded circa 1780; in 1787, it was designated the seat of the newly formed Greene County. It was incorporated as a town in 1803 and as a city in 1855. The city was named for Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the rebel American forces at the Battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, 1781.
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 Crosby Dawson is born here
In the archiveSanborn Fire Insurance Map from Greensboro, Greene County, Georgia. LOC sanborn01443 002
Born hereSonny Terry is born here
In the archiveMary Louise Redd Cook (Biographies of representative women of the South, v1, 1920)BuiltDr. Calvin M. Baber House is built
In the archiveHighway near Greensboro, Georgia
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRonald Blair is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greensboro. 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 Greensboro.
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 Greensboro’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 411 people in 1810 to 3,648 in 2020, 8 times over.
18 censuses, 1810–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Greensboro’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Greensboro’s post office has been open since 1793.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1780, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Greensboro’s post office opened in 1793, and the census of 1810 counted 411 people here.
Greensboro is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #7 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.
12 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Greene County Courthouse (listed 1980, the first), and 5 historic districts with 254 contributing buildings. 264 historic buildings in all.
23% of Greensboro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (12), 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.
1939
1939
