Stone Mountain’s post office opened in 1834, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #40 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Stone Mountain was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 273 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1870.
Founding year: the first Stone Mountain post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1839.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Stone Mountain’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Stone Mountain is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #40 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Stone Mountain’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 Stone Mountain’s 412 sits above most of its state (87% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 273 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1839 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 Stone Mountain’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Stone Mountain's history traces back to before the time of European settlement, with local burial mounds dating back hundreds of years built by the ancestors of the historical Muskogee Creek nation who first met the settlers in the early colonial period.
The Treaty of Indian Springs in 1821 opened a large swath of Georgia for settlement by non-Native Americans on former Creek Indian land, including present-day Stone Mountain Village. In 1822, the area that now makes up the city was made a part of the newly formed DeKalb County.
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 Stone Mountain. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1956Stone Mountain sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Stone Mountain.
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.
Retake this viewStone Mountain Depot circa 1860, c. 1860
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Stone Mountain’s page.
The Stone Mountain post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1839.
How does Stone Mountain rank for history?
Stone Mountain is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #40 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 Stone Mountain?
One place: the Stone Mountain Historic District (listed 2000).
How old are the homes in Stone Mountain?
6% of Stone Mountain’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (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) 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.
1910
