Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #7 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Donaldsonville was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 487 buildings. Below: 22 old photos and papers, maps from 1939 on, and the census since 1860.
Donaldsonville dates its founding to 1806 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Donaldsonville is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #7 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 Donaldsonville’s 720 sits above most of its state (100% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 492 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% 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.
6 decades in the archive, from the 1830s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1927Floods - Mississippi River Flood
1927Floods - Mississippi River Flood
1938DonaldsonvilleFairBoardOfHealth1938
1938DonaldsonvillePeepShow1938
1938DonaldsonvilleWainrightsEskimoPies
1938Group Watching Magician Donaldsonville LA Fair 1938
1938The Poor Man's Orange - Display in agricultural exhib…
1938Two Boys Leaning on Fence Donaldsonville LA 1938
1938Store window
1938Chapel near Donaldsonville, Louisiana
1938Concessionaire, state fair
1938Snake eater, sideshow
1938Legionnaires at state fair
1938Jewelry concession, state fair
1938Family at state fair
1938Concessioner's sign, state fair
1938Scene at state fairDonaldsonville’s post office has been open since 1822. Two other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Donaldsonville.
The French were the first Europeans to colonize the area. They named the site Lafourche-des-Chitimachas, after the regional indigenous people and the local bayou, which they gave the same name. They developed agriculture in the parish, mainly as sugar cane plantations worked by African slave labor.
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.
Born hereFrancis T. Nicholls is born here
In the archiveMardi Gras Donaldsonville Louisiana 1839BuiltLandry Tomb is built
In the archive159th New York Volunteer Infantry at
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Louisiana (LA) - Ascension Parish - Donaldsonvill…
In the archiveGanel's Turtle Soup newspaper adIn the archiveFloods - Mississippi River FloodIn the archiveDonaldsonvilleFairBoardOfHealth1938
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Donaldsonville. 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 Donaldsonville.
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 Donaldsonville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,475 and 7,949 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Donaldsonville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1806, according to Wikidata. Donaldsonville’s post office opened in 1808, and the census of 1860 counted 1,475 people here.
Donaldsonville is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #7 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: 3 buildings, among them the Palo Alto Plantation (listed 1977, the first), 1 historic district, the Donaldsonville Historic District, with 487 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 492 historic buildings in all.
8% of Donaldsonville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (13), the Library of Congress (9), Wikidata (1), 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) 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.
1880
