Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns · #123 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Toccoa was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 75 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
The Toccoa post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Toccoa is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #123 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Toccoa’s 86.6 sits above most of its state (69% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 80 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Toccoa. 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 Toccoa.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1893Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Toccoa.
Mississippian and Yuchi Indians, linked to the Muscogee Creek confederacy and later allies of the Cherokee, occupied Tugaloo and the area of Toccoa for over 1,000 years prior to colonization.
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 archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Georgia (GA) - Stephens County - Toccoa - ED 127-…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveThe front page of The Toccoa Record newspaper on March 8, 1901
Born herePaul Anderson is born here
In the archiveGeorgia
In the archiveWea00705 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1970s. 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 Toccoa’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 679 and 9,323 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Toccoa’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Toccoa’s post office has been open since 1874.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Toccoa post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Toccoa is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns, #123 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.
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Schaefer-Marks House (listed 1976, the first), and 1 historic district, the Toccoa Downtown Historic District, with 75 contributing buildings. 80 historic buildings in all.
4% of Toccoa’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
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