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History · Edwardsville

Edwardsville’s post office opened in 1869, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1967 on, and the census since 1880.

1869first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Edwardsville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Edwardsville began

When was Edwardsville founded?

1869

The Edwardsville post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 207 in 18802020 census: 206157 years
Founding year: the first Edwardsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Edwardsville’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 448 in 1900; 206 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Edwardsville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Edwardsville’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 viewCleburne County Courthouse, U.S. Route …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Edwardsville, census by census

010020030040050018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 448

Peaked at 448 in 1900; 206 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Edwardsville, in brief

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

Edwardsville is a town in Cleburne County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 206. From 1867 to 1906, it served as the Cleburne County Seat. In 1880 and 1890, it was the most populous community in the county. It reached its population zenith of 448 in 1900 when it fell behind Heflin, to which it also lost the county seat to six years later. It has not had more than 226 persons since 1920.

Its first post office opened in 1869. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 202 in 2010, 206 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Edwardsville, 1869 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869Post officeThe Edwardsville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 448
  5. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Edwardsville, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Cleburne County Courthouse, U.S. Route 78Date?Cleburne County Courthouse, U.S. Route 78
Today3 recent
Edwardsville, Alabama2012Edwardsville, AlabamaEdwardsville, Alabama Town Hall2012Edwardsville, Alabama Town HallEdwardsville, Alabama Post Office2012Edwardsville, Alabama Post Office
On the map

Edwardsville on the map, 1967 to 2001

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

Edwardsville on the 1967 USGS mapEdwardsville on the 1975 USGS mapEdwardsville on the 1980 USGS mapEdwardsville on the 2001 USGS map1967Heflin 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 Edwardsville.

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.

Cleburne County Courthouse, U.S. Route 78
Retake this viewCleburne County Courthouse, U.S. Route 78

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Edwardsville’s post office has been open since 1869.

Gone or out of use
Advents ChurchchurchRoberts Milllocale
1cemetery inside Edwardsville
Edwardsville

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

Questions about Edwardsville’s history

What year was Edwardsville founded?

The Edwardsville post office opened in 1869, 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 Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (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.