Most of St. Francisville was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1965 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1812.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives St. Francisville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Francisville is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. Francisville’s overall grade.
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 St. Francisville’s 615 sits above most of its state (98% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 111 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.9 points). Two sources give 1807.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
What stands out about St. Francisville’s past
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. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
The current town of St. Francisville was established on May 11, 1807, by John H. Johnson, and was originally known as the Villa of St. Francis. A number of historic structures from that period still exist. Called "the town two miles long and two yards wide" because it was developed atop a narrow ridge overlooking the Mississippi River, it was the commercial and cultural center of the surrounding plantation country. Below St. Francisville's bluffs, another early settlement called Bayou Sara had been established by French colonists in the early 1790s. It was at one time the largest antebellum Mississippi River port between New Orleans and Memphis, but was superseded by Natchez. The settlement was gradually destroyed by repeated flooding and fires, and nothing exists of Bayou Sara today. A few of its surviving structures were hauled up the hill into St. Francisville in the 1920s. This are…
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Francisville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1965St Francisville sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Francisville.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewBayou Sacra Luisiana Henry Lewis, 1846–1849
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on St. Francisville’s page.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Francisville
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. Francisville
GraceHebrew RestOur Lady of Mount Carmel
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about St. Francisville’s history
What year was St. Francisville founded?
In 1807, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. St. Francisville’s post office opened in 1812, and the census of 1850 counted 405 people here.
How does St. Francisville rank for history?
St. Francisville is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in St. Francisville?
7 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Propinquity (listed 1973, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Rosedown Plantation and the St. Francisville Historic District, with 100 contributing buildings. 111 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in St. Francisville?
9% of St. Francisville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (9), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
★ Landmark
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