Founding year: the first New Market post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Market’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Market is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Market’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 New Market’s 6.2 sits near the middle of its state (53% 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 B to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±12.5 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 New Market’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
On September 24, 1904, two passenger trains collided head-on near New Market, killing a large, unknown number of passengers. Different sources give different values for the number of deaths, ranging from 54 to 113.
There are many historical buildings in New Market, including the New Market Presbyterian Church which was built in 1885. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Citing concerns of annexation by Jefferson City, New Market would reincorporate as a town in 1977.
New Market is the current home of the Highlander Research and Education Center.
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 New Market post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does New Market rank for history?
New Market is more historic than 74% 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 New Market?
One place: the New Market Presbyterian Church (listed 1998).
How old are the homes in New Market?
18% of New Market’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.5 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1973.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2021
2021
2016
2015
2008
