Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #93 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Most of Cary was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. 8 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 136 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1880.
Cary dates its founding to 1750 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cary is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #93 of 290 in North Carolina. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Cary ranks #192 on History.
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 Cary’s 7.9 sits near the middle of its state (51% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 142 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Cary’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
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.
Cary’s post office has been open since 1856. Three other post offices 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cary’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cary.
Before the arrival of European settlers, the Tuscarora and Catawba people lived in what is now called Cary. However, their numbers were greatly reduced due to smallpox epidemics, resulting from contact with Europeans who carried the disease and having no prior immunity.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Cary, cut from the printed page as they were published.
serted many years. It stands near the town of Cary to the west, and Its story was told to me by an old lady who remembers traditions, and who was somewhat kin to the former owner. Fanning Jones, but who was not proud of the relationship.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Of the smaller towns which girdle the County round, there is Cary, birthplace of the Pages, a small town before the War; Apex seven miles further, which was also a small village until the railroads made it a good sized country town; Garner grown up on the Southern Railroad, as Apex on the Seaboard; Zebulon and Wendell, sister towns with their
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWalter Hines Page is born hereBuiltPage-Walker Hotel is built
In the archiveAllison Francis Page, 1824-1899
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltLiberty Warehouse Nos. 1 and 2 is built
Born hereKendall Fletcher is born here
Born hereClaire Curzan is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2007Postcard with Cooper's Tourist Courts and Restaurant,…Postcard
2006US Navy 061019-N-5531C-002 Sailors assigned to the Vi…
2006Green Hope School (Photographic artifact)
2006Green Hope School (Abandoned Site) 2006
2006Green Hope Elementary School (Sign)
2006Green Hope Elementary School (Front View)
2006Colorful Sunset in Cary 2006
2006Cary, North Carolina (Preston Sign) 2006
2006Cary, North Carolina (Preston Gazebo) 2006
2006Cary, North Carolina (Barn) 2006Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cary. 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 Cary.
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 Cary’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 316 people in 1880 to 174,721 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cary’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1750, according to Wikidata. Cary’s post office opened in 1847, and the census of 1880 counted 316 people here.
Cary is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #93 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.
8 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Page-Walker Hotel (listed 1979, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Carpenter Historic District, the Cary Historic District and the Green Level Historic District, with 136 contributing buildings. 142 historic buildings in all.
0.4% of Cary’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1999.
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 (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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 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.
