Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #98 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Most of Jacksonville was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 34 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1870.
Jacksonville dates its founding to 1757 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jacksonville is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #98 of 290 in North Carolina. Its age holds 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 Jacksonville’s 4.8 sits near the middle of its state (47% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 34 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% 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.
Jacksonville’s post office has been open since 1873. 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).
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Jacksonville.
The end of the Tuscarora wars in 1713 and the forced removal of Native American tribes was followed by permanent settlement of the regions between New Bern and Wilmington. The New River became a major production center for naval stores like turpentine. The downtown waterfront park is built on the original site of Wantland's Ferry.
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 archiveMarine Corps Protestant Chapel 1909BuiltBank of Onslow and Jacksonville Masonic Temple is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRyan Adams is born here
Born hereA.J. Styles is born here
In the archiveStar Lite Drive-in Theater, Route 17
In the archiveArk Fast Food
Born hereJamal Shuler is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jacksonville. 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 Jacksonville.
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 Jacksonville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 60 people in 1870 to 72,723 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Jacksonville’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1757, according to Wikidata. Jacksonville’s post office opened in 1813, and the census of 1870 counted 60 people here.
Jacksonville is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #98 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.
Three places: the Bank of Onslow and Jacksonville Masonic Temple (listed 1989), the Pelletier House and Wantland Spring (1989) and the Mill Avenue Historic District (1990).
0.6% of Jacksonville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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) 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.
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