Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #29 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it
Most of Laurens was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. 15 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 142 buildings between them. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1860.
Laurens dates its founding to 1785 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Laurens is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #29 of 169 in South Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
South Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Carolina town has 3.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Laurens’ 176 sits above most of its state (90% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 164 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Laurens.
Located in upstate South Carolina, the city of Laurens is named after Henry Laurens, a South Carolina merchant and rice planter who was one of America's wealthiest slave traders. He was a delegate to and second president of the Continental Congress and served as a diplomat.
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.
Born hereHilary A. Herbert is born hereBuiltLaurens County Courthouse is built
In the archiveCourt house and Confederate monument
Born hereReverend Gary Davis is born here
In the archiveLaurens - Court House
In the archiveApr 29 1910 Palmetto Drug Co
Born hereJohn F. Bolt is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1890Court house and Confederate monumentc. 1905Laurens - Court HousePostcard
1907Gray CourtPostcard
1907Laurens - Cemetery and Cotton MillPostcard
1907Laurens - View of Laurens Cotton MillsPostcard
1907Laurens Courthouse 1907Postcard
c. 1908Laurens - Enterprise BankPostcard
c. 1908Laurens - Laurens Cotton Mill 01Postcard
c. 1908Laurens - Laurens Cotton Mill 02Postcard
1909Laurens - Court House SquarePostcard
c. 1909Laurens - Main Street, looking west 01Postcard
c. 1909Laurens - Main Street, looking west 02Postcard
c. 1909Laurens - View showing Laurens Cotton MillsPostcardNo 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 Laurens’ page.
Retake this view · +15Between 429 and 10,587 people in every census since 1860.
16 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Laurens’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Laurens’s post office has been open since 1794.
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.
In 1785, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Laurens’ post office opened in 1794, and the census of 1860 counted 429 people here.
Laurens is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #29 of 169 in South 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.
15 listings: 13 buildings, among them the Laurens County Courthouse (listed 1972, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Laurens Historic District and the South Harper Historic District, with 142 contributing buildings. 164 historic buildings in all.
6% of Laurens’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (16), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (15), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1910
c. 1910
1910