Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Newton was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listing is the Baker County Courthouse.
The Newton post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1837.
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 Newton’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereShirley Sherrod is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Newton.
Newton was founded in 1837. That same year, the seat of Baker County was transferred to Newton from Byron. There are several properties in Newton listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Baker County Courthouse (Georgia), Notchaway Baptist Church and Cemetery, and Pine Bloom Plantation.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Newton post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1837.
One place: the Baker County Courthouse (listed 1980).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2005