Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Walnut Grove was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listing is the Samuel H. Brodnax House. Its Register listing is the Samuel H. Brodnax House. Below: maps from 1964 on and the census since 1910.
The Walnut Grove post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walnut Grove is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. 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 Walnut Grove’s 23.7 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Walnut Grove’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Walnut Grove.
The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Walnut Grove as a town in 1905. The community was named for a grove of walnut trees near the original town site.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Walnut Grove. 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 Walnut Grove.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 110 and 1,330 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Walnut Grove’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Walnut Grove itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Walnut Grove had its own post office from 1850 to 1957.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Walnut Grove post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Walnut Grove is more historic than 35% 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.
One place: the Samuel H. Brodnax House (listed 1982).
2% of Walnut Grove’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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.
2005
