Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Excelsior. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1890.
The Oak Ridge post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Point Jefferson (1847), 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 Oak Ridge’s history is told.
Peaked at 373 in 1940; 124 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oak Ridge’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Oak Ridge.
The earliest inhabitants of the area were different Native American cultures prior to European contact. Between 1540 and 1685 a multimound site with an adjoining central plaza was built. Since its archeological rediscovery c. 1848, the area has come to be known as the Jordan Mounds. It is believed that by 1700 the site was abandoned.
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.
Born hereSamuel T. Baird is born here
Born hereAbner Wimberly is born here
In the archiveOak Ridge, Louisiana during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oak Ridge. 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 Oak Ridge.
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 Oak Ridge’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.
Oak Ridge’s post office has been open since 1879. Another post office, Point Jefferson, 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).
The Oak Ridge post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Excelsior (listed 1989).
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 (11), 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.
2026
2026
2026
2026
2026
2026
2026
2019
2019
2004