Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #51 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Arcadia was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1890.
The Arcadia post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1855.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Arcadia is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #51 of 161 in Louisiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Arcadia’s 22.8 sits above most of its state (76% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% 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 Arcadia’s history is told.
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.
1898Sheet 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 Arcadia.
In 1934, bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde were killed in Gibsland, near Arcadia in a shootout. Their bodies were brought for embalming to a furniture store in Arcadia which also served as a funeral parlor. Enormous crowds of onlookers descended upon the city when news of the pair's deaths there became public.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Arcadia. 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 Arcadia.
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 Arcadia’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 862 and 3,403 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Arcadia’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Arcadia’s post office has been open since 1851.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Arcadia post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1855.
Arcadia is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #51 of 161 in Louisiana. 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.
Three places: the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railroad Depot (listed 1988), the Hill, The (1988) and the Arcadia Colored High School Historic District (2014).
9% of Arcadia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
Date?
2020
