Founding year: the first Collinsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Collinsville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Collinsville is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Collinsville’s overall grade.
Alabama towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Alabama town has 2.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Collinsville’s 488 sits above most of its state (95% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 87 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.1 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 Collinsville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The story so far
Collinsville, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Collinsville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Collinsville is a town in DeKalb and Cherokee counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It was incorporated in 1887. As of the 2020 census, Collinsville had a population of 2,059. Collinsville's largest employer is Koch Foods. It is a poultry plant that employs approximately 800 people.
Its first post office opened in 1860. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,983 to 2,059 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Collinsville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1946Portersville 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 Collinsville.
People over time
Collinsville, census by census
Grew from 160 people in 1880 to 2,059 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Collinsville’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Collinsville’s history
What year was Collinsville founded?
The Collinsville post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Collinsville rank for history?
Collinsville is more historic than 70% 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.
What is on the National Register in Collinsville?
One place: the Collinsville Historic District (listed 2006).
How old are the homes in Collinsville?
14% of Collinsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2024
2013
2013
2009
