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History · Cuba

Cuba’s post office opened in 1854, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Dr. H. B. Ward House and the Dr. James Alvis Beavers House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1974 on, and the census since 1880.

1854first post office
2on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cuba’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Cuba began

When was Cuba founded?

1854

The Cuba post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cuba Station (1866), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 232 in 18802020 census: 306172 years
Founding year: the first Cuba post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Cuba’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 719 in 1920; 306 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cuba’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cuba’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 viewCubaAlabama: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Cuba, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 719

Peaked at 719 in 1920; 306 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Cuba came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cuba.

Read it all →

The Cuba post office existed prior to 1850, with nothing in the present-day area of the town of Cuba but wilderness. The first people to live in this site were a slaveowner named Mr. R.A. Clay, who moved from Autauga County with his family and approximately 100 slaves in 1852, and purchased all the land which later made up the town of Cuba. By 1861, the town was a thriving farming industry and had a sizable truck-crop enterprise. Also during this time, the Northeast and Southwest Railroad (later the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, Southern Railway and now Norfolk Southern) was being built. Clay donated land for the railroad right-of-way, built mainly by the people he enslaved. As the town was settled, the post office became known as Cuba Station. The Town of Cuba was incorporated in 1890 with Dr. A.L. Vaughan as its first mayor.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cuba, 1854 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Cuba post office opens
  3. 1856Post officeThe Cuba post office closes
  4. 1866Post officeThe Cuba Station post office opens
  5. 1886Born hereJ. P. Shelton is born here
  6. 1894Post officeThe Cuba Station post office closes
  7. 1894Post officeThe Cuba post office opens
  8. 20th century
  9. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 719
  10. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Cuba, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
CubaAlabamaDate?CubaAlabama
Today7 recent
Cuba AL Post Office2018Cuba AL Post OfficeI-20 59 East - MM1 - Cuba City Limit Sign2017I-20 59 East - MM1 - Cuba City Limit SignDr. James Alvis Beavers House 2016-05-272016Dr. James Alvis Beavers House 2016-05-27I-20 East I-59 North - MM1 - Cuba City Limit2014I-20 East I-59 North - MM1 - Cuba City LimitCubaAlabamaPostOffice2009CubaAlabamaPostOfficeCubaAlabamaMuseum2009CubaAlabamaMuseumALMap-doton-Cuba2004ALMap-doton-Cuba
On the map

Cuba on the map, 1974 to 1984

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

Cuba on the 1974 USGS mapCuba on the 1984 USGS map1974Kewanee 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 Cuba.

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.

CubaAlabama
Retake this viewCubaAlabama

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Cuba

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1998
Dr. H. B. Ward House
Dr. H. B. Ward HouseDr. James Alvis Beavers House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival2
Late Victorian2
I-House1
Mid-19th Century1
Gothic1
Dr. H. B. Ward HouseI-House
Dr. James Alvis Beavers HouseMid-19th Century

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Cuba had its own post office from 1854 to 1856. Another post office, Cuba Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cuba
1854–1856
Cuba Station
1866–1894
Cuba
1894–today
18501940today

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

Questions about Cuba’s history

What year was Cuba founded?

The Cuba post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Cuba?

Two places: the Dr. H. B. Ward House (listed 1998) and the Dr. James Alvis Beavers House (2000).

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 Wikimedia Commons (8), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.