Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Chillin662 · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #12 of 100 in Mississippi. What drives it
Most of Yazoo City was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. 7 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 224 buildings between them. Below: 15 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
Yazoo City dates its founding to 1824 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Yazoo City is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #12 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 Yazoo City’s 223 sits above most of its state (77% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 228 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 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.
1886Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Peaked at 14,550 in 2000; 10,316 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Yazoo City’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Yazoo City.
The community now known as Yazoo City was founded in 1824 with the name Hannan's Bluff. It was later renamed Manchester, then changed to Yazoo City in 1841. Yazoo City became the county seat in 1849. A yellow fever epidemic struck Yazoo City in 1853.
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 archiveYazoo City Livery Stable Horses Mules Negroes c c bought and sold on commission
In the archiveYazoo Expedition 5 March 1864BuiltRicks Memorial Library is builtBuiltAugustus J. Oakes House is built
In the archiveHouse of Hon. John Sharp Williams, Yazoo City, Mississippi
In the archiveA young spinner in Yazoo City (Miss) Yarn Mills. Said he was thirteen, but doubtful. LOC …
In the archiveFloods - Mississippi River FloodBuiltAfro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital is built
In the archiveMain street, Yazoo City, Mississippi
Born hereStella Stevens is born here
Born hereHaley Barbour is born here
Born hereMike Espy is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey6 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1891Yazoo Expedition 5 March 18641908House of Hon. John Sharp Williams, Yazoo City, Missis…1911A young spinner in Yazoo City (Miss) Yarn Mills. Said…
1911A young spinner in Yazoo City Yarn Mills. Said she wa…
1911Child Labor In Textile Mills
1911Entire force at the Yazoo City (Miss.) Yarn Mills. Po…
1911One of the young spinners and Supt. Yazoo City, Miss
1911Part of the force at Yazoo City Yarn Mills. LOC nclc.…
1911Supt. and overseers with the 'Relief Crowd,' in Yazoo…
1911The Supt. and a group of children under 16 years star…
1911Young 'Band-boy' and overseer, Yazoo City Yarn Mills.…
1911Young band boy, and overseer. Yazoo City, MissEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Yazoo City. 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 Yazoo City.
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 Yazoo City’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Yazoo City’s post office has been open since 1839. Another post office, Hanan's Bluff, opened and closed inside today’s town.
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.
In 1824, according to Wikidata. Yazoo City’s post office opened in 1827, and the census of 1880 counted 2,542 people here.
Yazoo City is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #12 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.
7 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Ricks Memorial Library (listed 1975, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Yazoo City Town Center Historic District, the Lindsey Lawn Apartments and the Woolwine, J.W., Homes, with 224 contributing buildings. 228 historic buildings in all.
9% of Yazoo City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (15), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
