Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 12% of U.S. towns · #130 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Harahan was built recently: 0.5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Its Register listing is the Harahan Elementary School. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1930.
The Harahan post office opened in 1917, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 12% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harahan is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #130 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 Harahan’s 1.1 sits near the middle of its state (43% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harahan. 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 Harahan.
Peaked at 13,037 in 1970; 9,116 people lived here in 2020.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harahan’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Harahan.
Harahan occupies land which was once part of the Soniat Plantation. The area was historically known for ideal conditions to use as farming and raising cattle. In the late 1800s, part of the former plantation was used as an experimental farm operated by Southern University and A&M College.
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
In the archiveJefferson Parish Louisiana Riverfront New Orleans Map 1935
In the archiveCamp Plauche Animal Remount Station Air View 1944
In the archiveJefferson Parish Louisiana Riverfront New Orleans Map 1951
In the archiveJefferson Parish Louisiana Riverfront New Orleans Map 1979
In the archiveJefferson Parish Louisiana Riverfront New Orleans Map 19985 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1990s. 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 Harahan’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Harahan had its own post office from 1917 to 1951.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Harahan post office opened in 1917, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Harahan is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #130 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.
One place: the Harahan Elementary School (listed 1983).
0.5% of Harahan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
c. 2003