Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 20% of U.S. towns · #203 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Most of Pleasant Garden was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1980.
The Pleasant Garden post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Fentriss (1841), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 20% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pleasant Garden is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #203 of 290 in North Carolina. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Pleasant Garden’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 Pleasant Garden’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pleasant Garden.
Incorporated in 1997 from Fentress Township, Pleasant Garden was first settled in 1786, and known as a business district by that name from at least 1876.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pleasant Garden. 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 Pleasant Garden.
Grew from 1,991 people in 1980 to 5,000 in 2020.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pleasant Garden’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Pleasant Garden’s post office has been open since 1876. Another post office, Fentriss, 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 Pleasant Garden post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pleasant Garden is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #203 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.
5% of Pleasant Garden’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 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.
