Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns · #166 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Most of Angier was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Its Register listing is the Williams Grove School. Below: the census since 1910.
The Angier post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Kennebec (1915), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Angier is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #166 of 290 in North Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Angier’s 1.6 sits near the middle of its state (40% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Angier’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Angier.
The town was founded in the late 1880s and named for the Angier family of Durham, NC. The Williams Grove School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Grew from 221 people in 1910 to 5,265 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Angier’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Angier’s post office has been open since 1899. Another post office, Kennebec, 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).
The Angier post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Angier is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #166 of 290 in North Carolina. 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.
One place: the Williams Grove School (listed 1995).
7% of Angier’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1998.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
