Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Empire was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. Its Register listings are the St. Patrick's Catholic Church and the George Lincoln House. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1891 on.
The Empire post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Sunrise (1882) and Nairn (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Empire’s history is told.
Empire’s post office has been open since 1878. 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Empire yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Empire is a census-designated place (CDP) in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 905 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1878. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 993 to 905 (-9%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archivePlaquemines Parish Louisiana Map 1891 Empire Quarantine
BuiltSt. Patrick's Catholic Church is built
In the archivePlaquemines Parish Louisiana Empire Area Map 1944
In the archiveLunch at Tom's Place, a Yugoslav establishment in Empire, Louisiana - 3 crop adjusted3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Empire’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.
Nobody well known was born in Empire itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Empire post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the St. Patrick's Catholic Church (listed 1999) and the George Lincoln House (2016).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
1985
2005
2004