Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 11% of U.S. towns · #159 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it
Most of Karns was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: maps from 1935 on.
More historic than 11% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Karns is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #159 of 177 in Tennessee. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Karns’ 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.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Karns’s history is told.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Karns.
The community was formerly called Beaver Ridge. However, in 1913 when the first high school building was erected in Karns, the school was named in honor of Professor Thomas Conner Karns (1845–1911), the first Superintendent of Public Instruction for Knox County. Later, in the 1950s, the community voted to officially change its name from Beaver Ridge/Byington to Karns.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Karns. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Karns.
Nobody well known was born in Karns itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Karns is more historic than 11% of U.S. towns, #159 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.
3% of Karns’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1992.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
