Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #22 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 39 buildings. Most of Homer was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1850.
The Homer post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Homer is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #22 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 Homer’s 158 sits above most of its state (94% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 42 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Homer’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1860 and 1870, then grew more than tenfold.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Homer’s Wikipedia page.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Homer.
The town was once the home of Homer College (also known as Homer Colored College), a private school for African American students (1880 to 1918) and offered bachelor's degrees and masters degrees.
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.
In the archiveLouisiana - Boyce through Kinder
In the archiveShallow pool, Langston and Lowenberg leases
Born hereBobby Rush is born here
Born herePaul Lowe is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereCheryl Ford is born here
In the archiveClaiborne Hotel Courts sign, west of Simsboro, Simsboro, Louisiana
Born hereVon Wafer is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2012John Sparks Patton gravestone, Homer, LA IMG 6296
2012Graves at Arlington Cemetery, Homer, LA IMG 6312
2012Enos C. McClendon, Jr., gravestone, Homer, LA IMG 6311
2011Homer, LA, water tower IMG 2668
2011Claiborne Hotel Courts
2009Rainach grave in Homer, LA IMG 0867
2009Downtown Homer, LA IMG 0860
2009Arlington Cemetery in Homer, LA IMG 0871Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Homer. 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 Homer.
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 Homer’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Homer post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Homer is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #22 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Claiborne Parish Courthouse (listed 1981, the first), and 1 historic district, the Homer Historic District, with 39 contributing buildings. 42 historic buildings in all.
4% of Homer’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
1917
