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History · Cardiff

Cardiff was first counted by the census in 1890

Most of Cardiff was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1890.

1890first census
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cardiff’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Cardiff began

When was Cardiff founded?

1890

Cardiff first appears in the census in 1890.

First census: 203 in 18902020 census: 52136 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Cardiff’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 562 in 1900; 52 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19044 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1986. Watch Cardiff change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cardiff’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cardiff’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewCardiff Town Hall, Old County Road 109: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Cardiff, census by census

01002003004005006001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 562

Peaked at 562 in 1900; 52 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cardiff’s Wikipedia page.

On the map

Cardiff on the map, 1904 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cardiff. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Cardiff on the 1904 USGS mapCardiff on the 1959 USGS mapCardiff on the 1970 USGS mapCardiff on the 1986 USGS map1904Birmingham Coal District sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cardiff.

The story

How Cardiff came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cardiff.

Read it all →

Coal mining was the historical basis of the economy. The town, for years the smallest incorporated town in the State of Alabama, declined along with the decline of underground coal mining and the rise of strip mining. The epochal flood of May 2003 destroyed a number of buildings in that part of Cardiff close to Five Mile Creek. The town is now but a dent in the land; scarce of life with a scant 20–30 people and covered with kudzu. Cardiff is becoming a ghost town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cardiff, 1890 to 1904

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Cardiff post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 562
  5. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Cardiff, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Cardiff Town Hall, Old County Road 109Date?Cardiff Town Hall, Old County Road 109
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.

Cardiff Town Hall, Old County Road 109
Retake this viewCardiff Town Hall, Old County Road 109

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cardiff’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

BrooksideIts storyC

Questions about Cardiff’s history

What year was Cardiff founded?

The Cardiff post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, 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.