More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #195 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Hephzibah was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1922 on, and the census since 1900.
Founding year: the first Hephzibah post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hephzibah’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hephzibah is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #195 of 263 in Georgia. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hephzibah’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 Hephzibah’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (16% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.3 points). 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 Hephzibah’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Hephzibah was originally named Brothersville, in honor of three brothers who settled near one another. In October 1860, a Baptist seminary was established in Brothersville by a group of Appling residents. They established the Hephzibah Baptist Church in 1862. The prominence of these new religious institutions in the area swayed the state of Georgia to rename the town Hephzibah in 1870. In 1909, Walter A. Clark published a book of local history, named A Lost Arcadia - The Story of My Old Community, detailing the earliest days of Hephzibah.
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.
The Hephzibah post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hephzibah rank for history?
Hephzibah is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #195 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.
How old are the homes in Hephzibah?
6% of Hephzibah’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1985.
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), 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.
1933
1933
1933
1933
1933
1933
1933
Date?
Date?
Date?
2015
