Most of Graysville was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1920.
Founding year: the first Graysville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Graysville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Graysville is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Graysville’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 Graysville’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (16% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.7 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 Graysville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Graysville is named for William Gray, an early settler who was appointed postmaster in 1875. The town expanded in the 1880s, when the arrival of the railroad brought coal extraction industries to the area. During this period, the Dayton Coal and Iron Company established a major operation at Graysville. Coal mined nearby was converted into coke, which in turn was used to fuel two blast furnaces to produce pig iron. This operation continued until the Great Depression brought about a general collapse in the industry in the 1930s.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Graysville post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Graysville rank for history?
Graysville is more historic than 22% 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.
How old are the homes in Graysville?
7% of Graysville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (6), 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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