Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #80 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 46 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1906 on, and the census since 1880.
The Pelham post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pelham is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #80 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Pelham’s 140 sits above most of its state (74% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 48 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% 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 Pelham’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pelham.
Pelham was incorporated in 1881 and named in honor of Confederate officer John Pelham, who was born to a family of slave owners in northeastern Alabama in 1838.
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.
In the archiveGeorgia [Effingham County (part) - Newton County (part)
Born hereBetty Reed is born here
Born hereDonnie Cochran is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pelham. 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 Pelham.
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.
1906Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Pelham’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 168 and 4,609 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pelham’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Pelham’s post office has been open since 1872.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Pelham post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pelham is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #80 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.
One place: the Pelham Commercial Historic District (listed 1983).
14% of Pelham’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.9 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2005