Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #36 of 100 in Mississippi. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them five historic districts with 1,077 buildings between them. Most of Bay St. Louis was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: 14 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1880.
The Bay St. Louis post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bay St. Louis is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #36 of 100 in Mississippi. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Mississippi towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Mississippi town has 71.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bay St. Louis’ 1,059 sits above most of its state (97% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 1,079 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% 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.
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.
5 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2011Bay St. Louis
2011Bay St. Louis
2011Bay St. Louis
2010On final approach to a private airstrip
2010Aerial shot of sandbars near Bay St.Louis, MS
2010Aerial shot of sandbars near Bay St.Louis, MS
2010Aerial shot of sandbars near Bay St.Louis, MS
2008Mississippi National Guard prepares for Hurricane Ike…
2008Hurricane Gustav Beach Boulevard
2003Bay St. Louis,MS Beach, 2003From Wikipedia’s history of Bay St. Louis.
The first European settlers in this area were French colonists, whose culture still influences the small city. While developing a plantation culture in the area, they imported enslaved people, originally from Africa, to work the land. A Creole population developed of people of color as well as whites with significant French ancestry.
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 archiveAlong the bay, Bay St. Louis, Miss
Born hereRichmond Barthé is born here
In the archiveBeachAlexBayStLouis1914
In the archiveBayStLouisRollerskates1921
In the archiveMississippi Gulf Coast New Orleans to Mobile 1953 Map
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMap Eastern New Orleans to Gulfport MS 1982
Born hereTolu Smith is born hereEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bay St. Louis. 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 Bay St. Louis.
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 Bay St. Louis’ page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,978 people in 1880 to 9,284 in 2020, 4 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bay St. Louis’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
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 Bay St. Louis post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Bay St. Louis is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #36 of 100 in Mississippi. 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.
7 listings: 2 buildings and 5 historic districts with 1,077 contributing buildings. 1,079 historic buildings in all.
7% of Bay St. Louis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1995.
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 (24), 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.
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