Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Louisburg School. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1910.
Louisburg dates its founding to 1887 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1910.
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 Louisburg’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Louisburg.
Louisburg was platted in 1887. A post office was established at Louisburg in 1888, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1992.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Louisburg. 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 Louisburg.
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.
Between 26 and 99 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Louisburg’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Louisburg itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1887, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Louisburg’s post office opened in 1988, and the census of 1910 counted 88 people here.
One place: the Louisburg School (listed 1986).
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
