Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Byhalia was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 58 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1880.
The Byhalia post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Byhalia is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Byhalia’s 378 sits above most of its state (85% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 60 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Byhalia’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1910, then more than doubled.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Byhalia’s Wikipedia page.
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 Byhalia.
Byhalia was founded in the 1830s and named after Byhalia Creek, which flows past the community. The town was incorporated in 1873 and is located on the BNSF Railway.
Byhalia had a newspaper, The Byhalia Journal, that was published from 1883 to 1899. Sam Mims Jr., who was a member of the Mississippi Senate from 1916 to 1920, served as the editor.
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.
BuiltMyers-Hicks Place is built
In the archiveNegro American Red Cross Workers of the Byhalia Colored Auxiliary of northern Mississippi…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Byhalia. 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 Byhalia.
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 sheet.
1915Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn 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 Byhalia’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Byhalia’s post office has been open since 1846.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Byhalia post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Byhalia is more historic than 76% 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.
Three places: the Myers-Hicks Place (listed 1983), the Byhalia Historic District (1996) and the Byhalia United Methodist Church (1984).
6% of Byhalia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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