Its Register listings are the William Randolph House and the Thomas Drugs. Most of Cross Plains was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1828.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cross Plains’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cross Plains is more historic than 54% 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 Cross Plains’ 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 Cross Plains’ 10.4 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share (±1.4 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1819.
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 →
What stands out about Cross Plains’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1778, American Revolutionary War veteran Thomas Kilgore arrived at the Middle Fork of Red River, three-fourths of a mile west of Cross Plains, making him the first European settler to arrive in Robertson County. Kilgore traveled to this area to claim 640 acres of land, which was guaranteed to settlers who traveled west by the Legislature of North Carolina. Kilgore returned to eastern North Carolina in the fall of 1778, and after the title of his land was confirmed, he traveled back to his settlement with a few other families, and built a stockade which would be known as Kilgore Station. The first building was a double log house erected by William Randolph in 1819. It was also used as a tavern.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Cross Plains, census by census
Grew from 101 people in 1880 to 1,789 in 2020, more than tenfold.
6 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cross Plains’ Wikipedia page.
Questions about Cross Plains’ history
What year was Cross Plains founded?
In 1819, according to Wikidata. Cross Plains’ post office opened in 1828, and the census of 1880 counted 101 people here.
How does Cross Plains rank for history?
Cross Plains is more historic than 54% 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 Cross Plains?
Two places: the William Randolph House (listed 1973) and the Thomas Drugs (1993).
How old are the homes in Cross Plains?
2% of Cross Plains’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1994.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), 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.
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