More historic than 12% of U.S. towns · #157 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it
Most of La Vergne was built recently: 0.7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 1930.
Founding year: the first La Vergne post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives La Vergne’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, La Vergne is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #157 of 177 in Tennessee. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of La Vergne’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 La Vergne’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 D. The pre-1940 share (±0.7 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 La Vergne’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Before Euro-American settlement, the land that became Rutherford County was used as seasonal hunting and fishing ground by Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Creek, and Choctaw peoples until 1794. Early maps show the Nickajack Trail and Creek War Trace converging near present-day Murfreesboro, southeast of La Vergne.
The area that became La Vergne was first settled by Euro-American settlers in the late 18th century and was initially associated with the Hurricane Creek and Stones River waterways. Early settlement names included Buchanan land and Buchananville; James B. Buchanan was named postmaster at Buchananville in 1837.
The La Vergne post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does La Vergne rank for history?
La Vergne is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #157 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.
How old are the homes in La Vergne?
0.7% of La Vergne’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 2001.
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, 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.
