Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #84 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 28 buildings between them. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1971 on, and the census since 1900.
The Mayodan post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mayodan is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #84 of 290 in North Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Mayodan’s 117 sits above most of its state (77% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 28 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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 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.
5 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1958Five Area Lovelies – Thursday, December 4, 1958, News…
1976History of Mayodan First Baptist Church, 1901-1976
1980Great photo op for a little girl at her family's annu…
1980Preparing the food table at a family reunion
1980Cakes and pies line the tables at a family reunion
1980Great photo op for a little girl at her family's annu…
1980Fried pies, a southern culinary tradition, laid out o…From Wikipedia’s history of Mayodan.
Mayodan started as a mill town when a cotton mill was built in 1892. Operations began in April 1896.
In 1998 a Tornado struck the town, damaging Mayodan Methodist Church causing it to be rebuilt. The Washington Mills-Mayodan Plant was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The Mayodan Historic District has been on the National Register since 2016.
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 archivePannill familyIn the archiveFive Area Lovelies – Thursday, December 4, 1958, News and Record
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyIn the archiveHistory of Mayodan First Baptist Church, 1901-1976In the archiveGreat photo op for a little girl at her family's annual reunion in
In the archiveFEMA - 9340 - Photograph by Steve Hale taken on 03-22-1998 in North CarolinaEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mayodan. 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 Mayodan.
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 Mayodan’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 874 and 2,875 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mayodan’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Mayodan itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Mayodan’s post office has been open since 1896.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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.
The Mayodan post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Mayodan is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #84 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.
Two places: the Washington Mills-Mayodan Plant (listed 2005) and the Mayodan Downtown Historic District (2016).
18% of Mayodan’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 1955.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (4), 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) 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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