More historic than 13% of U.S. towns · #127 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Ball was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1941 on and the census since 1980.
Founding year: the first Ball post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ball’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ball is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #127 of 161 in Louisiana. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ball’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 Ball’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (21% of Louisiana 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 still be D. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 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 Ball’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The earliest record of settlers in Ball dates to between 1840 and 1863. In 1893 Captain Chittenden Edwin Ball, a native of Union County, Kentucky, who captained steamboats up the Red River to Alexandria, named a sawmill town after himself. The captain settled in Rapides Parish in the late 1880s, where he established the Sweet Home Mill. In 1940 Camp Livingston was constructed, bringing with it job opportunities and a population boom. The number of military personnel stationed at Camp Livingston reached a peak of 42,500 in 1942. The end of World War II in 1945 brought about the closing of the base but many families decided to stay in the community. Discussion of incorporation began in the 1960s and in May 1972 incorporation was completed with the finalization of the town charter under "The Lawrason Act".
The Ball post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ball rank for history?
Ball is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #127 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.
How old are the homes in Ball?
0.6% of Ball’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (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) 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.
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