Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Rentz was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1940 on.
The Rentz post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Reedy Springs (1873), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
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 Rentz’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rentz.
The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Rentz as a town in 1905. The community was named after E. P. Rentz, a businessperson in the local lumber industry. A post office has been in operation at Rentz since 1905.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Rentz’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Rentz itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Rentz’s post office has been open since 1905. Another post office, Reedy Springs, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Rentz post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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), 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.
