Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns · #66 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Tallulah was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1910.
The Tallulah post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tallulah is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #66 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 Tallulah’s 16.8 sits above most of its state (74% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 10 listings outnumber those of 76% 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.
Peaked at 11,341 in 1980; 6,286 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Tallulah’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tallulah. 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 Tallulah.
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 Tallulah.
This area was developed in the antebellum years by European Americans for cotton plantations. They brought in thousands of enslaved African Americans to produce and process the crops. Major planters grew wealthy from their labor at a time when the market for cotton was strong.
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 archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Louisiana (LA) - Madison Parish - Tallulah - ED 3…
In the archiveSongsheet about the 1899 lynching of Italians in
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMadison Journal Oct 1915 Hurricane
In the archiveTallulah Picnic 1922
Born hereJimmy Jones is born here4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2020Katrina Dew prepares Louisiana delicacies inside a fo…
2020Flowers sprout on a tiny island within a meandering b…
2020The abandoned Tallulah High School building, which cl…
2020The weathered Tallulah Men's Club building, completed…
2011Sand boil discovered in
2010Walnut Bayou, Tallulah, LA IMG 0214
20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map forBook
2007LAMap-doton-Tallulah
2004LAMap-doton-RichmondFire 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.
1921Sheet 1 of 6Sanborn 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 Tallulah’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Tallulah’s post office has been open since 1871.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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 Tallulah post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Tallulah is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #66 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.
10 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Scottland Plantation House (listed 1982, the first).
4% of Tallulah’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (10), 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), 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.
1880
1880