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History · Five Points

Five Points’ post office opened in 1888, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1920.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Five Points’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Five Points began

When was Five Points founded?

1888

The Five Points post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lystra (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 835 in 19202020 census: 114138 years
Founding year: the first Five Points post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Five Points’ 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.On the map since 19024 editions of the USGS map, 1902 to 1983. Watch Five Points change.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,010 in 1930; 114 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Five Points’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Five Points’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 viewFive Points Alabama: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Five Points on the map, 1902 to 1983

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

Five Points on the 1902 USGS mapFive Points on the 1968 USGS mapFive Points on the 1978 USGS mapFive Points on the 1983 USGS map1902Wedowee sheet · 1:125,000

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

People over time

Five Points, census by census

02004006008001,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,010

Peaked at 1,010 in 1930; 114 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Five Points came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Five Points.

Read it all →

In 1885, Five Points was named because of the five roads converging at a single point. Before this, the post office was known as "Lystra". The town was incorporated in 1916, according to documents filed with the Probate Judge, making it Chambers County's oldest incorporated town. The Baptist Church was the first to take the name of "Five Points" on its building in 1929.

Five Points holds the distinction of being the first town of its size to receive electricity from Alabama Power in 1925. In order to receive power, citizens were required to erect their own poles from Stroud to White Plains.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Five Points, 1882 to 1930

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Lystra post office opens
  3. 1888Post officeThe Lystra post office closes
  4. 1888Post officeThe Five Points post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 1,010
By decade

Five Points, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Five Points AlabamaDate?Five Points Alabama
Today2 recent
Five Points Alabama Town Hall2012Five Points Alabama Town HallFive Points Alabama Post Office2012Five Points Alabama Post Office
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.

Five Points Alabama
Retake this viewFive Points Alabama

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Five Points

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

See all →
Elijah KelleyAmerican actor and singer · b. 1986
John Malcolm Patterson44th Governor of Alabama · b. 1921
Charles Allen CulbersonAmerican politician · b. 1855
Forrest Hood James, Jr.American politician, 48th Governor of Alabama · b. 1934
Bo CallawayAmerican politician and businessman · b. 1927
B
Brian WestAmerican soccer player · b. 1978
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Five Points’s post office has been open since 1888. Another post office, Lystra, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lystra
1882–1888
Five Points
1888–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Five Points’ history

What year was Five Points founded?

The Five Points 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 Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.