More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #194 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Thunderbolt was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1910.
Founding year: the first Thunderbolt post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Thunderbolt’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Thunderbolt is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #194 of 263 in Georgia. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Thunderbolt’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 Thunderbolt’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (16% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. 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 Thunderbolt’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
An early variant name was "Warsaw". The Georgia General Assembly incorporated the town as "Warsaw" in 1856. Coincidentally, Casimir Pulaski, who was born in Warsaw, Poland, died in Thunderbolt. An act of legislature officially changed the town's name to "Thunderbolt" in 1921.
According to tradition, Thunderbolt was named from an incident when lightning strike caused a spring to open up.
Fort Thunderbolt, colloquially referred to as the Thunderbolt Battery, was built to protect the city of Savannah from invading Union forces advancing from Whitemarsh Island.
The Thunderbolt post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Thunderbolt rank for history?
Thunderbolt is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #194 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.
How old are the homes in Thunderbolt?
6% of Thunderbolt’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (1), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, 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.
2010
