Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 23% of U.S. towns · #104 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Jena was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Its Register listing is the Carter-Carraway House. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1941 on, and the census since 1910.
Jena first appears in the census in 1910.
More historic than 23% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jena is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns, #104 of 161 in Louisiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Jena’s 2.4 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first census (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 →
From Wikipedia’s history of Jena.
Jena was named for Jena, Germany, where French Emperor Napoleon I won the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806.
In September 2006, Jena became the focus of national news stories in the United States for a racial controversy involving its school system and a group of students known as the Jena Six.
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 archiveJena, Louisiana. Paul J. Green and his wife and one of their daughters with the horse whi…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereWoodie Flowers is born here
In the archiveGood Pine Lumber Company Building 012 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jena. 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 Jena.
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 Jena’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.
Between 620 and 4,375 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Jena’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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 Jena post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Jena is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns, #104 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 Carter-Carraway House (listed 2025).
7% of Jena’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (14), the Library of Congress (1), 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) 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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