Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #11 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Breaux Bridge was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. 9 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 24 buildings. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1940 on, and the census since 1880.
Breaux Bridge dates its founding to 1771 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Breaux Bridge is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #11 of 161 in Louisiana. Its age holds 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 Breaux Bridge’s 61.3 sits above most of its state (84% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 46 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltPatin House is built
In the archiveEllsworth Woodward and Others at Paradise Woods, Breaux Bridge Louisiana 1925
In the archiveSugar mill near Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereScott Angelle is born here
Born hereAli Landry is born here
Born hereJake Delhomme is born here
Born hereHunter Hayes is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Breaux Bridge.
Firmin Breaux was a pioneer from Acadia, who settled here after expulsion by the British in what is now eastern Canada. He is known to have arrived in the area during early 1765 (after the British defeat of the French in 1763). By 1774, his branding iron was registered. By 1786 he was one of the largest property owners in the Bayou Têche country.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1925Ellsworth Woodward and Others at Paradise Woods, Brea…
1927President Stephens with Guests at Paradise Woods, Lou…1938Sugar mill near Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
1938Fireplace in Acadian home near Breaux Bridge, Louisia…
1938Desk in home of Acadian family near Breaux Bridge, Lo…
1938Detail of house with outside stairway to attic. Near …
1938Detail of Acadian house with outside stairway leading…
2020Oil painting of a "vacherie" in Breaux Bridge, LA by …
2017Breaux Bridge LA Road Signs Antiques
2016A Vintage Burlesque Mini Caravan for Travel
2013Zydeco breakfast!
2011Signs - Breaux Bridge Streets
2011Crawfish Étouffée in
2009Sign, original Comeaux's Grocery
2009Breaux Bridge Louisiana October 2009 05
2008Gumbo delivery in
2008Breaux Bridge- gumbo setup at Cafe des Amis
2008Breaux Bridge- Frenchified seafood gumbo at Chez Jacq…
2006Dusk in
2004LAMap-doton-Breaux BridgeEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Breaux Bridge. 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 Breaux Bridge.
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 Breaux Bridge’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 443 and 8,139 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Breaux Bridge’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Breaux Bridge’s post office has been open since 1837.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1771, according to Wikidata. Breaux Bridge’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1880 counted 443 people here.
Breaux Bridge is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #11 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.
9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Henri Penne House (listed 1980, the first), and 1 historic district, the Breaux Bridge Historic District, with 24 contributing buildings. 46 historic buildings in all.
5% of Breaux Bridge’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (15), the Library of Congress (6), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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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