Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns · #16 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of New Iberia was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. 20 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Shadows-on-the-Teche, a National Historic Landmark, and two historic districts with 137 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1850.
New Iberia dates its founding to 1779 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Iberia is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #16 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 New Iberia’s 58.0 sits above most of its state (84% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 160 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% 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. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
New Iberia’s post office has been open since 1814.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of New Iberia.
New Iberia dates its founding to the spring of 1779, when a group of some 500 colonists (Malagueños) from Spain, led by Lieutenant Colonel Don Francisco Bouligny, came up Bayou Teche and settled around what became known as Spanish Lake.
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 archiveLetter from D. P. Grier, New Iberia, La., to Anna McKinney, November 26, 1863
In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Louisiana (LA) - Iberia Parish - New Iberia - ED …BuiltSteamboat House is built
BuiltSouthern Pacific Railroad Depot is built
In the archiveLeonDreyfusStoreNewIberiaAfter1909Hurricane
In the archiveHowe Institute
In the archiveLaundry equipment and grain grinder on farm of Cajun sugarcane farmer near
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey5 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Iberia. 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 New Iberia.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 New Iberia’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 306 and 32,766 people in every census since 1850.
17 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Iberia’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1779, according to Wikidata. New Iberia’s post office opened in 1814, and the census of 1850 counted 306 people here.
New Iberia is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #16 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.
20 listings: 18 buildings, among them the Shadows-on-the-Teche (a National Historic Landmark since 1974), and 2 historic districts, the East Main Street Historic District and the Downtown New Iberia Commercial Historic District, with 137 contributing buildings. 160 historic buildings in all.
8% of New Iberia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (20), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1866
1866
1927
1938
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1938