Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns · #113 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Most of Oak Ridge was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. 4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 21 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1969 on, and the census since 1900.
The Oak Ridge post office opened in 1828, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1998.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oak Ridge is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #113 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 Oak Ridge’s 47.8 sits above most of its state (68% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 37 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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 Oak Ridge’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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Oak Ridge.
The town is home to Oak Ridge Military Academy, a private, co-educational, college-preparatory military boarding school. Founded in 1852, it is the third-oldest military school in the nation still in operation, and it is the official military school of North Carolina, as designated by the state legislature.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oak Ridge. 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 Oak Ridge.
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 Oak Ridge’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 161 people in 1900 to 7,474 in 2020, more than tenfold.
5 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oak Ridge’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Oak Ridge itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Oak Ridge post office opened in 1828, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1998.
Oak Ridge is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns, #113 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Guilford Mill (listed 1982, the first), and 1 historic district, the Oak Ridge Military Academy Historic District, with 21 contributing buildings. 37 historic buildings in all.
0.8% of Oak Ridge’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1997.
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 the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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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