Its Register listings are the L. Banks Holt House and the Alamance Mill Village Historic District. Its Register listings are the L. Banks Holt House and the Alamance Mill Village Historic District. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1969 on, and the census since 1980.
Founding year: the first Alamance post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1837.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Alamance’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Alamance is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Alamance’s overall grade.
North Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical North Carolina town has 12.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Alamance’s 150 sits above most of its state (82% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 19 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1837 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Alamance’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Alamance was the site of the largest conflict of the War of the Regulation on May 16, 1771. Governor William Tryon's decisive victory over a force of 2,000 Regulators effectively ended the war (Battle of Alamance). The region around Alamance was also the site of a defeat of British Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War in a skirmish known as Pyle's Massacre on February 25, 1781.
interested in internal improvements, and aided by his partner and brother-in-law, Dr. D. A Montgomery, got up stock for the N. C. R. R., which was commenced in 1851. They were large contractors in Alamance, Orange, Wake and Johnston counties, and had brick made and bridges built over Haw River, Black creek, and over both crossings of the Eno at Hillsboro. They also ran a steam saw-mill at Asbury and Cary, Wake county, for the purpose of cutting
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Some neglected history of North Carolina, being an account of the revolution of the regulators and of the battle of Alamance, the first battle of the American Revolution1914Read the page →
Read the text
Governor Tryon with his own hands fired the first shot at the Battle of Alamance, which killed Robert Thompson, the first man killed at Alamance, Thursday, May 1 6, 1771. It was here that the first blood was shed for American freedom and independence ; it was here that the British first met the Americans — Regulators — on the battle-field ; here was the spot where the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
"Some time about the year 1836 he mentioned the matter to his father, hoping that the old gentleman would approve of his plans, and as he at the time owned a grist-mill on Alamance creek, about one mile from his home (the water-power of the creek being sufficient to run both the grist-mill and a small cotton factory), and he reasoned that if his father would join him in the enterprise and erect a cotton factory on his site on Alamance creek, all would be
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Alamance, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Alamance post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1837.
How does Alamance rank for history?
Alamance is more historic than 87% 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 Alamance?
Two places: the L. Banks Holt House (listed 1977) and the Alamance Mill Village Historic District (2007).
How old are the homes in Alamance?
19% of Alamance’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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