Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Stony Point, the Fudge Farm and the New Providence Presbyterian Church, Academy, and Cemetery. Below: maps from 1935 on and the census since 1960.
Surgoinsville dates its founding to 1815 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1960.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Surgoinsville is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Surgoinsville’s 89.0 sits above most of its state (89% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 17 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Surgoinsville’s history is told.
Surgoinsville’s post office has been open since 1866. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltStony Point is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBilly Greer is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Surgoinsville.
Surgoinsville was incorporated in 1815, and was named for its founder, Major James Surguine, who was a French Huguenot.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Surgoinsville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Surgoinsville.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,132 and 1,882 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Surgoinsville’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1815, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Surgoinsville’s post office opened in 1816, and the census of 1960 counted 1,132 people here.
Surgoinsville is more historic than 80% 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.
Three places: the Stony Point (listed 1973), the Fudge Farm (1976) and the New Providence Presbyterian Church, Academy, and Cemetery (1978).
10% of Surgoinsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1982.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (7), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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