Historic Roswell by the Numbers
By Mary McMath, Keller Williams Realty Atlanta North
October 22, 2026 · 2 min read
Roswell is one of the few places in metro Atlanta where you can live near buildings older than the Civil War. Here's the history in numbers.
The founding. Roswell King came through the area in 1830 and built a cotton mill on Vickery Creek in the 1830s. The Roswell Manufacturing Company dates to 1839, and the city incorporated on February 16, 1854. Union forces burned the mills during the Civil War. The ruins and the spillway dam remain in Old Mill Park.
The historic district. The Roswell Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1974. That listing covers about 120 acres with 28 contributing buildings. The broader historic area downtown spans about 640 acres.
Three house museums.
| Home | Built | Notable fact |
|---|---|---|
| Bulloch Hall | 1839 | Site of the wedding of Mittie Bulloch and Theodore Roosevelt Sr., parents of the 26th president |
| Barrington Hall | 1839 | Greek Revival home of the King family on 7 acres |
| Smith Plantation | 1845 | Home of Archibald Smith on a plantation of more than 300 acres |
All three are open to the public.
Canton Street. Downtown's main street is lined with restaurants, galleries and shops. From April through October, Alive in Roswell brings a monthly street festival with live music and vendors.
By the numbers today. Roswell had 92,833 residents in the 2020 census and covers about 39 square miles.
Take it from Mary: exterior changes to homes in Roswell's local historic district go through the city's Historic Preservation Commission. If you're buying an older home here, ask me what that means before you plan renovations.
A note on the numbers: every figure in this post is a good-faith estimate taken from the sources below as of the date it was posted. Figures aren't exact and can change, so please do your own research and confirm anything important with the official source before relying on it.
Sources
- Roswell, Georgia (Wikipedia)
- Roswell Historic District (Wikipedia)
- Guide to Roswell (Explore Georgia)
Photo: SimonATL via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
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