Lawrenceville’s post office opened in 1821, and 5 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns · #115 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Lawrenceville was built recently: 0.7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1988. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 1 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1964 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Lawrenceville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lawrenceville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lawrenceville is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #115 of 263 in Georgia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lawrenceville’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 Lawrenceville’s 2.9 sits near the middle of its state (40% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. 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 Lawrenceville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Lawrenceville was incorporated by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on December 15, 1821. This makes Lawrenceville the second oldest city in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The city is named after Commodore James Lawrence, commander of the frigate Chesapeake during the War of 1812. Lawrence, a native of New Jersey, is probably best known today for his dying command, "Don't give up the ship!" William Maltbie, the town's first postmaster, suggested the name of "Lawrenceville."
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lawrenceville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1964Lawrenceville sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lawrenceville.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewAttic detail, ridge without beam, facing east. - Landers-Cain House, 915 Pleasant Hill Road, 1933
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lawrenceville’s page.
The Lawrenceville post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lawrenceville rank for history?
Lawrenceville is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns, #115 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.
What is on the National Register in Lawrenceville?
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Old Seminary Building (listed 1970, the first), and 1 historic district, the Robert Craig Plantation, with 1 contributing buildings. 9 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Lawrenceville?
0.7% of Lawrenceville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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