Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Harrogate

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
C+History
History · Harrogate

Harrogate’s post office opened in 1891, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 42% of U.S. towns · #105 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Grant-Lee Hall. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 2000.

1891first post office
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Harrogate’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Harrogate began

When was Harrogate founded?

1891

The Harrogate post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Shawanee (1894), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 2,865 in 20002020 census: 4,400135 years

How historic is Harrogate?

C+

More historic than 42% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Harrogate post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Harrogate’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Harrogate is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #105 of 177 in Tennessee. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Harrogate’s overall grade.
Founding era1891, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194011.9% of homes (±5.6) · typical TN town 4.9% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 2.3 per 10,000 residents · typical TN town 6.1 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 42%
NewerOlder
Tennessee towns of 2,500+ (177)Ahead of 41%

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 Harrogate’s 2.3 sits near the middle of its state (39% 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 (±5.6 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 Harrogate’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Harrogate, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Harrogate’s post office has been open since 1891. Another post office, Shawanee, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Harrogate
1891–today
Shawanee
1894–1989
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Patterson CrossroadsRiver ViewShawanee
Gone or out of use
Shawanee Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Harrogate
Cottrell - JohnsonHarrogateScott

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Harrogate came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Harrogate.

Read it all →

In 1974, the population of Harrogate continued to grow at a fast pace, leading to the construction of a new middle school serving both students of Harrogate and the adjacent town of Cumberland Gap. In 1993, Harrogate was incorporated into a city, and continued to see the fastest population growth of all in Claiborne County. Lincoln Memorial University saw growth as new dorms, an athletic arena, new classrooms, a medical program, and a partnership with Japan's Kanto International Senior High School enhanced the Harrogate campus.

By the late 2000s, the city would construct a sewage treatment system following increased contaminations of groundwater and instances of human waste surfacing from failing septic tank systems.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Harrogate, 1891 to 1989

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1891Post officeThe Harrogate post office opens
  3. 1894Post officeThe Shawanee post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1917BuiltGrant-Lee Hall is built
  6. 1927On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1933In the archiveDETAIL OF ENTRANCE - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University
  8. 1989Post officeThe Shawanee post office closes
By decade

Harrogate, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s7 items
DETAIL OF ENTRANCE - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University1933DETAIL OF ENTRANCE - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memori…DETAIL SHOWING INNER WALL OF TOWER - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University1933DETAIL SHOWING INNER WALL OF TOWER - Daniel Huff Mill…HABS TENN,13-HARRO,1- (sheet 1 of 1) - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University1933HABS TENN,13-HARRO,1- (sheet 1 of 1) - Daniel Huff Mi…HABS TENN,13-HARRO,1- (sheet 1 of 1) - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University1933HABS TENN,13-HARRO,1- (sheet 1 of 1) - Daniel Huff Mi…EAST FRONT - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University1933EAST FRONT - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial Unive…EAST FRONT - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University1933EAST FRONT - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial Unive…GENERAL VIEW OF TOWER AND ENVIRONS LOOKING WEST - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University1933GENERAL VIEW OF TOWER AND ENVIRONS LOOKING WEST - Dan…
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today8 recent
Cumberland Gap Pinnacles Overlook 2025f2025Cumberland Gap Pinnacles Overlook 2025fCumberland Gap Pinnacles Overlook 2025e2025Cumberland Gap Pinnacles Overlook 2025eHarrogate-houses-from-bridge-tn2017Harrogate-houses-from-bridge-tnHarrogate-city-hall-tn2017Harrogate-city-hall-tnHarrogate-US25E-tn2017Harrogate-US25E-tnU.S. Post Office, Harrogate, 6690 Cumberland Gap Parkway, Harrogate, Tennessee, 377522011U.S. Post Office, Harrogate, 6690 Cumberland Gap Park…Harrogate, TN from Pinnacle2009Harrogate, TN from PinnacleEast Tennessee Crossing - Young Abraham Lincoln Statue2002East Tennessee Crossing - Young Abraham Lincoln Statue
On the map

Harrogate on the map, 1927 to 1991

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harrogate. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Harrogate on the 1927 USGS mapHarrogate on the 1930 USGS mapHarrogate on the 1976 USGS mapHarrogate on the 1991 USGS map1927Middlesboro sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Harrogate.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

DETAIL OF ENTRANCE - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University
Retake this viewDETAIL OF ENTRANCE - Daniel Huff Mill, Lincoln Memorial University, 1933

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Harrogate’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Harrogate

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Grant-Lee Hall
Grant-Lee Hall, built 1917
Buildings
Grant-Lee HallBuilt 1917

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Harrogate, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,50020002020Peak: 4,400

Between 2,865 and 4,400 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harrogate’s Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Harrogate’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDETAIL OF ENTRANCE - Daniel Huff Mill, …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Cumberland Gap1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Harrogate’s history

What year was Harrogate founded?

The Harrogate post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Harrogate rank for history?

Harrogate is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns, #105 of 177 in Tennessee. 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 Harrogate?

One place: the Grant-Lee Hall (listed 1978).

How old are the homes in Harrogate?

12% of Harrogate’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1979.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (15), 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.