Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Kingston was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1906 on, and the census since 1870.
The Kingston post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kingston is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Kingston’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.
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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kingston’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCharge of the 92nd Illinois Mounted Infantry Division near Kingston, Georgia, under Colon…
Born herePeter Charles Harris is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveAllen Plantation Overseer House, Kingston, Georgia, c. 1845From Wikipedia’s history of Kingston.
Native American tribes once inhabited the area. People of the Mississippian culture were in the vicinity until about 1500 AD. Cherokee removal occurred locally by 1838. White settlers were moved in as early as 1832, after a land lottery. The city was named for John Pendleton King, a United States Senator from Georgia.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kingston. 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 Kingston.
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 Kingston’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 402 and 733 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Kingston’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Kingston post office opened in 1845, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Kingston is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. 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.
7% of Kingston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (6), 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.
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2005