Most of Charleston was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Its Register listing is the Dr. Tandy and Sarah Harrison House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Charleston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Charleston’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Charleston is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Charleston’s overall grade.
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 Charleston’s 5.1 sits near the middle of its state (49% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Charleston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The original county seat, Old Tillatoba, was discovered to have a defective land title, so the seat was removed to Charleston in 1837.
The Charleston Female school, established in 1852, flourished for several years. The Tallahatchie Herald, a Democratic weekly newspaper, was established in 1892. In 1901, the Charleston Bank was established. By the early 1900s, Charleston had a brick courthouse and jail, three churches, schools, a Masonic hall, an Odd Fellows lodge, and two cotton gins. Its leading agricultural staple was cotton. The population in 1906 was 800.
In 1931, a magnitude 4.6 earthquake occurred in Charleston, the most powerful earthquake recorded in Mississippi.
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.
The Charleston post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Charleston rank for history?
Charleston is more historic than 56% 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.
What is on the National Register in Charleston?
One place: the Dr. Tandy and Sarah Harrison House (listed 2019).
How old are the homes in Charleston?
6% of Charleston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1978.
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), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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