Piperton’s post office opened in 1888, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 20% of U.S. towns · #148 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it
Most of Piperton was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2006. Its Register listing is the Miller House. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1980.
Founding year: the first Piperton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Piperton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Piperton is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #148 of 177 in Tennessee. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Piperton’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 Piperton’s 3.9 sits near the middle of its state (44% 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 D to C. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 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 Piperton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Piperton yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Piperton is a city in Fayette County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,263 at the 2020 census. In 2007, USA Today cited the National Motorist Association when it listed Piperton as one of the worst cities for speeding tickets across the USA.
Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,445 to 2,263 (+57%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Piperton, 1840 to 1943
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Piperton post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Piperton rank for history?
Piperton is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #148 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 Piperton?
One place: the Miller House (listed 1978).
How old are the homes in Piperton?
0.0% of Piperton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 2006.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
