Holly Springs’ post office opened in 1836, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #5 of 100 in Mississippi. What drives it
12 places in town are on the National Register, among them six historic districts with 270 buildings between them. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first Holly Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Holly Springs’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Holly Springs is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #5 of 100 in Mississippi. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Holly Springs’ 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 Holly Springs’ 409 sits above most of its state (87% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 274 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 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 Holly Springs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Holly Springs, building by building, 1887–1915
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 year, then a sheet.
European Americans founded Holly Springs in 1836 on territory occupied by the Chickasaw people for centuries before Indian Removal. Most of their land was ceded under the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek of 1832. Many early U.S. migrants were from Virginia, supplemented by migrants from Georgia and the Carolinas.
In 1836, the city had 4,000 European-American residents. A year later, records show that 40 residents were lawyers, and there were six physicians by 1838. By 1837, the town already had "twenty dry goods stores, two drugstores, three banks, several hotels, and over ten saloons." Hillcrest Cemetery was built on land settler William S. Randolph gave the city in 1837.
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.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Holly Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Holly Springs sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Holly Springs.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewRecto Mississippi Central Railroad Company 2 dollars 1862, 1862
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Holly Springs’ page.
The Holly Springs post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Holly Springs rank for history?
Holly Springs is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #5 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.
What is on the National Register in Holly Springs?
12 listings: 4 buildings, 6 historic districts with 270 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 structure. 274 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Holly Springs?
11% of Holly Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (12), 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.
1862
1863
1985
1985
2008
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