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BHistory
History · Resaca

Resaca’s post office opened in 1847, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 58% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Resaca was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listing is the William Taylor House. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1880.

1847first post office
1on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Resaca’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Resaca began

When was Resaca founded?

1847

The Resaca post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 191 in 18802020 census: 1,142179 years

How historic is Resaca?

B

More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Resaca post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Resaca’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Resaca is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Resaca’s overall grade.
Founding era1847, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19406.6% of homes (±9.4) · typical GA town 3.8% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register1 listing, 8.9 per 10,000 residents · typical GA town 10.0 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 58%
NewerOlder

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 Resaca’s 8.9 sits near the middle of its state (52% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±9.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 Resaca’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1890 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1861–1980.Deep rootsA post office since 1847: 179 years of Resaca.
★ What stands out · People over time

Resaca, census by census

02004006008001,0001,20018801900192019401960198020002020197 in 1890Low: 112

Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.

8 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Resaca’s Wikipedia page.

By decade

Resaca, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s8 items
Resaca, Georgia1861Resaca, GeorgiaNew Hope Church, Georgia1861New Hope Church, GeorgiaView on battle-field of Resaca, Ga1861View on battle-field of Resaca, GaCaptain Hubert Dilger at Resaca, Georgia, May 18641864Captain Hubert Dilger at Resaca, Georgia, May 1864General Sherman's campaign--our army entering Resaca, Georgia, on May 16, 18641864General Sherman's campaign--our army entering Resaca,…Inside Confederate fortifications after the battle at Resaca, Georgia, May 18641864Inside Confederate fortifications after the battle at…Battle of Res[a]ca1864Battle of Res[a]caLays Ferry. Oostanuala river. May 14-15-16 18641864Lays Ferry. Oostanuala river. May 14-15-16 1864
1880s3 items
The Battle of Resaca, Georgia1887The Battle of Resaca, GeorgiaGeneral Benjamin Harrison--"Come on boys!" - Battle of Resaca - May 13th to 16th 18641888General Benjamin Harrison--"Come on boys!" - Battle o…Battle of Resaca--May 13 to 16, 18641889Battle of Resaca--May 13 to 16, 1864
1890s–1970snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1980s1 item
Rock City Birdhouse, Route 411980Rock City Birdhouse, Route 41
1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today6 recent
Resaca, Georgia intersection2016Resaca, Georgia intersectionHighway 32016Highway 3Tornado Response2015Tornado ResponseResaca, GA, USA2013Resaca, GA, USAResaca, GA, USA - panoramio (1)2013Resaca, GA, USA - panoramio (1)GAMap-doton-Resaca2005GAMap-doton-Resaca
Timeline

Resaca, 1847 to 2020

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847Post officeThe Resaca post office opens
  3. 1861In the archiveResaca, Georgia
  4. 1887In the archiveThe Battle of Resaca, Georgia
  5. 20th century
  6. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1961Born hereMonty Powell is born here
  8. 1980In the archiveRock City Birdhouse, Route 41
  9. 21st century
  10. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 1,142
The story

How Resaca came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Resaca.

Read it all →

Resaca, originally known as Dublin when it was founded in 1848 with the arrival of the Western and Atlantic Railroad into the area, was renamed Resacca when it was incorporated as a town in 1854. In 1871, the spelling of the town was shortened to its present form.

The town was named by returning Mexican–American War inductees who fought at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma (translated Dry River Bed of the Palms) in Brownsville, Texas, in 1846.

The Civil War Battle of Resaca was fought in and around Resaca in May 1864. Each year, a re-enactment of the battle, the largest of the Atlanta campaign, is held on the third weekend of May.

Resaca is also the location of the first Confederate cemetery in Georgia. The story of the cemetery is:

ChaptersCivil War era20th century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

On the map

Resaca on the map, 1949 to 1972

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Resaca. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Resaca on the 1949 USGS mapResaca on the 1951 USGS mapResaca on the 1972 USGS map1949Calhoun sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Resaca.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Resaca, Georgia
Retake this viewResaca, Georgia, 1861

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Resaca’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Resaca

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2002
William Taylor House
William Taylor House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Central Hall1
William Taylor HouseCentral Hall

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Resaca’s post office has been open since 1847.

Gone or out of use
Resaca FerrycrossingResaca Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Resaca
Resaca

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Resaca’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewResaca, Georgia: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Calhoun2 historic placesB−

Questions about Resaca’s history

What year was Resaca founded?

The Resaca post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Resaca rank for history?

Resaca is more historic than 58% 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.

What is on the National Register in Resaca?

One place: the William Taylor House (listed 2002).

How old are the homes in Resaca?

7% of Resaca’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.4 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1993.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (7), the Library of Congress (11), 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) 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.