More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #109 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it
Most of Strawberry Plains was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1935 on.
From Strawberry Plains’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Strawberry Plains began
When was Strawberry Plains founded?
1816
The Strawberry Plains post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Straw Plains (1903), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 2,405210 years
How historic is Strawberry Plains?
C+
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Strawberry Plains post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Strawberry Plains’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Strawberry Plains is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #109 of 177 in Tennessee. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Strawberry Plains’ 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 Strawberry Plains’ 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 C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 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 Strawberry Plains’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community that would become Strawberry Plains would be settled in 1785 by Adam Meek, a pioneer from North Carolina who would first settle in nearby Rocky Valley, and the first established settlement of newly founded Jefferson County. Meek would resettle near the banks of the Holston River in present-day Strawberry Plains following conflicts with inhabiting Native Americans.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Strawberry Plains. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1935Mascot sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Strawberry Plains.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewStrawberry Plains, Tennessee. Battlefield LOC cwpb.02141, 1864
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Strawberry Plains’ page.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Strawberry Plains’s post office has been open since 1816. Another post office, Straw Plains, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Strawberry Plains
1816–today
Straw Plains
1903–1915
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Ridgeview Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Rolling Hill Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Strawberry Plains
Stringfield
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Strawberry Plains’ history
What year was Strawberry Plains founded?
The Strawberry Plains post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Strawberry Plains rank for history?
Strawberry Plains is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #109 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 Strawberry Plains?
7% of Strawberry Plains’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
c. 1864
2016
2011
2008
