Most of Celina was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Its Register listing is the Clay County Courthouse. Below: maps from 1929 on and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Celina post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Celina’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Celina is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Celina’s 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 Celina’s 5.2 sits near the middle of its state (49% 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 (±2.1 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 Celina’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Celina was founded in the 19th century and named after the daughter of local pioneer entrepreneur and educator, Moses Fisk. In the late 19th century, Celina prospered as a logging town, receiving logs that had been cut in the forests to the east and floated down the Obey River. In 1878, African Americans were violently driven out of Celina and its neighboring town, Free Hill.
The Celina post office opened in 1828, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Celina rank for history?
Celina is more historic than 48% 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 Celina?
One place: the Clay County Courthouse (listed 1977).
How old are the homes in Celina?
2% of Celina’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (14), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
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