Founding year: the first Spout Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Spout Springs’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Spout Springs is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns, #232 of 290 in North Carolina. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Spout Springs’ overall grade.
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 Spout Springs’ 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Spout Springs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Spout Springs yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Spout Springs is a Census-designated place in Johnsonville Township of Harnett County, North Carolina, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 11,040. It is a part of the Dunn Micropolitan Area, which is also a part of the greater Raleigh–Durham–Cary Combined Statistical Area (CSA) as defined by the United States Census Bureau. Spout Springs formerly produced lumber and naval stores. The area population has increased greatly in the 21st century due to the expansion of nearby Ft. Bragg.
Its first post office opened in 1870.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Spout Springs, 1870 to 1981
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spout Springs.
1981Olivia sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Spout Springs.
Famous people
Famous people close to Spout Springs
Nobody well known was born in Spout Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Spout Springs post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Spout Springs rank for history?
Spout Springs is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns, #232 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.
How old are the homes in Spout Springs?
0.0% of Spout Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 2010.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
