Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the W. H. Applewhite House and the Ward-Applewhite-Thompson House. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1880.
The Stantonsburg post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Moyton (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Stantonsburg’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRoyce Shingleton is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Stantonsburg.
The W. H. Applewhite House, Edmondson-Woodward House, and Ward-Applewhite-Thompson House were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 Stantonsburg. 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 Stantonsburg.
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.
Between 72 and 920 people in every census since 1880.
13 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Stantonsburg’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Stantonsburg’s post office has been open since 1817. Another post office, Moyton, 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 Stantonsburg post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the W. H. Applewhite House (listed 1986) and the Ward-Applewhite-Thompson House (1986).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
