Ocilla’s post office opened in 1877, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #119 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Irwin County Courthouse and the Ocilla Public School. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1900.
Founding year: the first Ocilla post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1880.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ocilla’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ocilla is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #119 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ocilla’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 Ocilla’s 9.7 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±6.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1880 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Ocilla’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Ocilla was founded in 1880, incorporated as a town in 1897, and finally re-incorporated as a city in 1902. It is not clear whether Ocilla is named for the Seminole Chief Osceola, for an Oswichee Native American tribe, or, as proposed by historian John Goff, it could be an adaptation of the place name Auscilla. A 1981 Fitzgerald Herald-Leader says that "a tribe of Oswichee Indians once lived near the Ocmulgee River on land known in 1818 as Irwin County." There, towns were called Oswitchee and Ocilla, and sometimes Ocichi. The French census shows that a town called Ocichi existed there in 1750. A later census in 1832 gives Oswhichee as the name of another Indian village close to Osochi." It goes on with "The town's name was changed seven times. It was called by the Indians Assile, next Aglie, Axilla, Agulu, Ochile, and lastly Ocilla." This theory is less popular today.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ocilla. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Waycross sheet · 1:250,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ocilla.
Every building
Ocilla, building by building, 1912–1924
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Ocilla’s history
What year was Ocilla founded?
The Ocilla post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1880.
How does Ocilla rank for history?
Ocilla is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #119 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 Ocilla?
Two places: the Irwin County Courthouse (listed 1980) and the Ocilla Public School (2004).
How old are the homes in Ocilla?
10% of Ocilla’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1981.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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