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History · Coker

Coker’s post office opened in 1888

Most of Coker was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1924 on and the census since 2000.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Coker began

When was Coker founded?

1888

The Coker post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 808 in 20002020 census: 904138 years
Founding year: the first Coker post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Coker’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Coker are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages6 hamlets and corners are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Coker’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Coker’s post office has been open since 1888.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Coker HeightsLurleen EstatesPine CircleValliwoodWesthillWestland
Gone or out of use
Barringers MilllocaleCoker Stationlocale
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Coker
African Methodist Episcopal ChurchBig Creek

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Coker, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Coker yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Coker is a town in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in 1999. At the 2020 census, the population was 904. It is part of the Tuscaloosa, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 979 to 904 (-8%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Coker on the map, 1924 to 1978

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

Coker on the 1924 USGS mapCoker on the 1978 USGS map1924Tuscaloosa 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 Coker.

People over time

Coker, census by census

02004006008001,00020002020Peak: 979

Between 808 and 979 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Coker

Nobody well known was born in Coker itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Dinah WashingtonAmerican singer · b. 1924
Robert J. Van de GraaffAmerican physicist · b. 1901
Deontay WilderAmerican boxer · b. 1985
Otis DavisAmerican sprinter · b. 1932
Lurleen WallaceAmerican politician · b. 1926
A
Angel MartinoAmerican swimmer · b. 1967
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Northport4 historic placesB+

Questions about Coker’s history

What year was Coker founded?

The Coker post office opened in 1888, 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 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.