Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 53 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1980 on and old-book passages.
The Catawba post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Chesnut Grove (1856) and Catawba Station (1859), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Catawba’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.
Catawba’s post office has been open since 1877. Two 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Catawba.
The Catawba Historic District, Alexander Moore Farm, Murray's Mill Historic District, and Powell–Trollinger Lime Kilns are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Catawba, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The church was served as pastors by Elders Kendrick, Hill, Cansler and at the time it joined the Catawba River Association (1864) had a membership of 113 members. It reached a membership of 219 in 1868.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Executive committees were appointed to employ a missionary for the next year. A committee was appointed to locate a school either at Catawba Station or Hickory Tavern. A presbytery was appointed to "organize some negro churches into an Association of their own."
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 hereBobby Isaac is born here
Born hereMitchell S. Setzer is born here
In the archiveMurray-Minges's Mercantile, near a historic gristmill
Born hereJustin Harper is born here
Born hereHunter Harvey is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Catawba’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Catawba post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the Catawba Historic District (listed 1986) and the Alexander Moore Farm (1990).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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