Most of Goodman was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1964 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Goodman post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Goodman’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Goodman is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Goodman’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 Goodman’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 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 Goodman’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Goodman was settled by European Americans in 1860. It was first chartered on November 16, 1865, after the end of the Civil War; and rechartered on March 5, 1878. The town is named for the first president of the Mississippi Central Railroad.
Goodman is the birthplace of John A. Lomax (1867–1948), pioneering folklorist, and David Herbert Donald (1920–2009), Pulitzer-prize-winning historian.
The Goodman post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Goodman rank for history?
Goodman is more historic than 18% 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.
How old are the homes in Goodman?
4% of Goodman’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (2), 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.
2018
2018
