Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #90 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Baker was built recently: 0.3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: maps from 1922 on and the census since 1950.
The Baker post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cottonville (1884), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Baker is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #90 of 161 in Louisiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Baker’s 6.5 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% 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.
Baker’s post office has been open since 1888. Another post office, Cottonville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Baker’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Baker.
Baker was originally known as Cottonville, as it was the site of a major cotton plantation. It was renamed in 1888 for Josephus Smith Baker, a prominent settler who owned the Baker Plantation.
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 Survey
Born hereLinda Thomas-Greenfield is born here
2008FEMA - 37913 - Utility crews working to restore power…
2005FEMA - 20802 - Photograph by Greg Henshall taken on 1…
2005FEMA - 20801 - Photograph by Greg Henshall taken on 1…
2005FEMA - 20800 - Photograph by Greg Henshall taken on 1…
2005FEMA - 20040 - Photograph by Greg Henshall taken on 1…
2005FEMA - 16881 - Photograph by Greg Henshall taken on 1…
2005FEMA - 16134 - Photograph by Win Henderson taken on 0…
2005(Hurricane Katrina) Baker, LA December 25, 2005 - Hol…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Baker. 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 Baker.
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 sheet.
1922Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Between 762 and 13,895 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Baker’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Baker post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Baker is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #90 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.
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Leland College (listed 1982, the first). 8 historic buildings in all.
0.3% of Baker’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (8), Wikidata (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.
