Its Register listings are the St. Margaret Catholic Church and the Hungarian Settlement School. Most of Albany was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1935 on.
Founding year: the first Albany post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Albany’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Albany is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Albany’s overall grade.
Louisiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Louisiana town has 3.8 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Albany’s 30.3 sits above most of its state (78% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% 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 (±2.1 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 Albany’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Albany yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Albany is a town in eastern Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,088 at the 2010 census and 1,235 in 2020. It is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. District 95 State Representative Sherman Q. Mack, an attorney, resides in Albany.
Its first post office opened in 1908. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,088 to 1,235 (+14%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Albany, 1908 to 1941
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Albany’s post office has been open since 1908.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bankstons Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Hungarian Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Albany
Bethlehem Baptist Church
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Albany’s history
What year was Albany founded?
The Albany post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Albany rank for history?
Albany is more historic than 24% 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.
What is on the National Register in Albany?
Two places: the St. Margaret Catholic Church (listed 1992) and the Hungarian Settlement School (2001).
How old are the homes in Albany?
2% of Albany’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2004
