Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Lincolnton was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 126 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1964 on, and the census since 1810.
Lincolnton dates its founding to 1798 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1810.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lincolnton is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns. 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 Lincolnton’s 730 sits above most of its state (94% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 129 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lincolnton’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1810 and 1880, then grew more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1810–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lincolnton’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lincolnton.
Lincolnton was founded in 1798 as seat of the newly formed Lincoln County. It was incorporated as a town in 1817 and as a city in 1953.
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 hereJoe Haynes is born here
In the archiveAmuzu Theatre, Lincolnton, Georgia - Aug 1925 EH
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2020Lincolnton-water-tower-ga
2020Lincolnton-Peachtree-St-ga
2020Lincolnton-Main-St-ga
2020Lincolnton-City-Hall-ga
2020Lincolnton-Anderson-and-Sons-ga
2018Simmons-Cullars House
2012Lincolnton Presbyterian Church & Cemetery
2012Lincolnton Historic District
2012Lamar-Blanchard House - now the Lincolnton Welcome Ce…
2006Lincolnton Police
2005GAMap-doton-LincolntonEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lincolnton. 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 Lincolnton.
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 Lincolnton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Lincolnton’s post office has been open since 1800.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1798, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lincolnton’s post office opened in 1800, and the census of 1810 counted 106 people here.
Lincolnton is more historic than 83% 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Lincoln County Courthouse (listed 1980, the first), and 1 historic district, the Lincolnton Historic District, with 126 contributing buildings. 129 historic buildings in all.
9% of Lincolnton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
