Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #22 of 100 in Mississippi. What drives it
Most of Pass Christian was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 231 buildings between them. Below: 36 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1850.
The Pass Christian post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1848.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pass Christian is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #22 of 100 in Mississippi. 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 Pass Christian’s 381 sits above most of its state (85% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 232 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% 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.
5 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1891US-MS(1891) p442 PASS CHRISTIAN, STREET SCENE
1897–1924Detroit Photographic Company (0470)
1900Magnolia Hotel
1900Mexican Gulf Hotel
1900Mexican Gulf Hotel
1900Old Fort Henry
1900The Driveway at Pass Christian, Miss
1901Mexican Gulf Hotel, Pass Christian, Miss
1901Mexican Gulf Hotel, Pass Christian, Miss
1901The Mammoth oak, Pass Christian, Miss
1901Pass Christian, Mississippi
1901Pass Christian, Miss
1901Pass Christian, Miss
1901Pass Christian, Miss
1901Pass Christian, Miss
1901Lynne Castle
1901The Mammoth oak
1901Mexican Gulf Hotel
1901The Mammoth oak at Pass Christian, Miss
1911A few of the young oyster shuckers at the Pass Packin…
1911All these children
1911Oyster shuckers and baby tenders at Pass Packing Co. …
1911Young oyster shuckers. Pass Christian, Miss
1911Pass Packing Co. Location: Pass Christian, Mississippi
1911Young oyster shuckers. Location: Pass Christian, Miss…
1911Joey Stubeck, five years old. Shucks some at Pass Chr…
1911All except the largest boy shuck oysters at Pass Chri…
1911General view of the Pass Packing Co. Location: Pass C…
1911One of the young oyster shuckers. Location: Pass Chri…
1911A few of the young shuckers at the Pass Packing Co. L…
19163 of the many young oyster shuckers
1916Three young oyster shuckers (1916-02-25)
1916Three young oyster shuckers
1916Going home at 5 P.M. from an oyster cannery at Pass C…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.
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.
1893Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pass Christian.
The exact date when Native Americans first arrived in the Gulf Coast area is not known, but artifacts have been found suggesting that humans have inhabited the area for many thousands of years.
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 archiveUS-MS(1891) p442 PASS CHRISTIAN, STREET SCENEIn the archiveMagnolia HotelIn the archiveA few of the young oyster shuckers at the Pass Packing Co. Pass Christian, Miss
In the archiveNet fishing on the Gulf of Mexico. Pass Christian, Mississippi
In the archiveTea being served in the parlor of a home in
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pass Christian. 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 Pass Christian.
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 Pass Christian’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 790 and 6,579 people in every census since 1850.
17 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pass Christian’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Pass Christian’s post office has been open since 1839.
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 Pass Christian post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1848.
Pass Christian is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #22 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.
4 listings: 1 building and 3 historic districts, the Turkey Creek Community Historic District, the Scenic Drive Historic District and the Cuevas Rural Historic District, with 231 contributing buildings. 232 historic buildings in all.
3% of Pass Christian’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 2003.
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 (13), the Library of Congress (23), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
