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CHistory
History · Waleska

Waleska’s post office opened in 1856, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 33% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 1900.

1856first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Waleska began

When was Waleska founded?

1856

The Waleska post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 170 in 19002020 census: 921170 years

How historic is Waleska?

C

More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Waleska’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Waleska is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Waleska’s overall grade.
Founding era1856, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194016.0% of homes (±9.8) · typical GA town 3.8% · U.S. 8.4%BNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical GA town 10.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 33%
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 Waleska’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 is a Census survey estimate (±9.8 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 Waleska’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Waleska are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Waleska’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Waleska’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Waleska’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Waleska came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Waleska.

Read it all →

The first white settlement in the Waleska area began in the early 1830s. Among these first pioneer settlers were the Reinhardt, Heard and Rhyne families, who moved into the region looking for fresh, fertile farm land. At first, these settlers lived among the Cherokee population already established in the area, but by 1838 all of the Cherokee had been forced westward to Oklahoma in the U.S. government relocation movement known as the Trail of Tears.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Waleska, 1856 to 1947

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Waleska post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920Born hereRuth Hubbard Cousins is born here
  5. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Waleska, decade by decade

Today11 recent
Georgia State Route 108 East2026Georgia State Route 108 EastWaleska Lodge 572025Waleska Lodge 57Little Free Library2025Little Free LibraryDollar General2025Dollar GeneralButter and Milk Eatery2025Butter and Milk EateryBiscuits and gravy at the Butter and Milk Eatery2025Biscuits and gravy at the Butter and Milk EateryWaleska Georgia City Hall2015Waleska Georgia City HallReinhardt Burgess Admin2010Reinhardt Burgess AdminHistoric Home2010Historic HomeCline Home2009Cline HomeGAMap-doton-Waleska2005GAMap-doton-Waleska
On the map

Waleska on the map, 1947 to 1997

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

Waleska on the 1947 USGS mapWaleska on the 1950 USGS mapWaleska on the 1974 USGS mapWaleska on the 1997 USGS map1947Waleska 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 Waleska.

People over time

Waleska, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020921

Grew from 170 people in 1900 to 921 in 2020, 5 times over.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Questions about Waleska’s history

What year was Waleska founded?

The Waleska post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Waleska rank for history?

Waleska is more historic than 33% 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.

How old are the homes in Waleska?

16% of Waleska’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.8 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1964.

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 (11), 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.