Thibodaux dates to 1830, and 23 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #21 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Thibodaux was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1828.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Thibodaux’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Thibodaux is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #21 of 161 in Louisiana. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Thibodaux’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 Thibodaux’s 18.4 sits above most of its state (74% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 29 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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 (±2.6 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1830.
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 →
What stands out about Thibodaux’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first documented Native American inhabitants of the Thibodaux area were the Chawasha, a small tribe related to the Chitimacha of the upper Bayou Lafourche. The first settlers of European descent in this area arrived in the 18th century, when Louisiana was the Spanish province of Luisiana. They consisted of French nationals and Louisiana-born French and German creoles, followed shortly by Spanish and French Acadian immigrants. The colonists gradually began to import Africans in bondage as slaves to work on and develop rice and sugar cane plantations.
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.
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 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Louisiana (LA) - Lafourche Parish - Thibodaux - ED 29-2, ED 29-3, ED 29-4, 1880
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Thibodaux’s page.
In 1830, according to Wikidata. Thibodaux’s post office opened in 1828, and the census of 1850 counted 1,242 people here.
How does Thibodaux rank for history?
Thibodaux is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #21 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.
What is on the National Register in Thibodaux?
23 listings: 23 buildings, among them the St. John's Episcopal Church and Cemetery (listed 1977, the first). 29 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Thibodaux?
8% of Thibodaux’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (3), Wikidata (15), the National Register of Historic Places (23), 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.
1880
1880
