Most of Burns was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Its Register listing is the Lonesome. Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1960.
The Burns post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Burn's Station (1866) and Colesburg (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 386 in 19602020 census: 1,573144 years
How historic is Burns?
C+
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Burns post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Burns’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Burns is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Burns’ overall grade.
Tennessee towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Tennessee town has 6.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Burns’ 5.3 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.4 points). 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 Burns’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Burns’s post office has been open since 1882. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Burn's Station
1866–1882
Colesburg
1879–1918
Burns
1882–today
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Colesburg
Gone or out of use
Colesburg SchoolschoolOld Ball Stationlocale
1cemetery inside Burns
Johnson
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Burns, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Burns yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Burns is a town in Dickson County, Tennessee, in the United States. It is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Burns had a population of 1,573.
Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,468 to 1,573 (+7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Burns, 1866 to 1936
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Burns post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Burns rank for history?
Burns is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Burns?
One place: the Lonesome (listed 2021).
How old are the homes in Burns?
10% of Burns’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
