Founding year: the first Newbern post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1857.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Newbern’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newbern is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #92 of 177 in Tennessee. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Newbern’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 Newbern’s 6.1 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 (±7.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1857 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Newbern’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1893Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The first settlers came to the area in the 1840s. Owen Philly is credited with erecting the first house and store in the town, and it is believed that he named the town after his birthplace, New Bern, North Carolina. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway completed a line from Memphis, TN to Newbern in 1882. By 1895, the operation of the line and depot at Newbern was taken over by the Illinois Central Railroad.
In October 1902, Garfield Burley and Curtis Brown were lynched in downtown Newbern. Burley and Brown were tied together and hung from a telephone pole within sight of the town's train depot. The lynching is notable due to the efforts of several local community leaders to prevent it.
The Newbern post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1857.
How does Newbern rank for history?
Newbern is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #92 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 Newbern?
Two places: the Newbern Illinois Central Depot (listed 1993) and the Cole-Boston House (2025).
How old are the homes in Newbern?
10% of Newbern’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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