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C−History
History · Glencoe

Glencoe’s post office opened in 1895

More historic than 18% of U.S. towns · #129 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it

Most of Glencoe was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 1940.

1895first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: YonderStone · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Glencoe began

When was Glencoe founded?

1895

The Glencoe post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Keysburgh (1877), Rock Springs (1889) and Nisbet (1892), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 669 in 19402020 census: 5,372131 years

How historic is Glencoe?

C−

More historic than 18% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Glencoe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Glencoe’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Glencoe is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #129 of 187 in Alabama. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Glencoe’s overall grade.
Founding era1895, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.7% of homes (±2.2) · typical AL town 3.2% · U.S. 8.4%C−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical AL town 2.7 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 18%
NewerOlder
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 31%

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 Glencoe’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (26% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 points) is firm at this size. 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 Glencoe’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Glencoe, and 6 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Glencoe are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Glencoe had its own post office from 1895 to 1905. Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Keysburgh
1877–1889
Rock Springs
1889–1915
Nisbet
1892–1894
Glencoe
1895–1905
Glencoe
1915–1962
Cobb
1989–1907
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cobb CityColvinKeysburgNisbitPine GroveRock Spring
Gone or out of use
Calvin Grove Post Officepost officeCobb QuarrymineFowler FerrycrossingGlencoe QuarrymineNisbit Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Glencoe
Pine Grove

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

Help out

Start Glencoe’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Glencoe’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
The story so far

Glencoe, in brief

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

Glencoe (local pronunciation "Glin-ko") is a city in Calhoun and Etowah counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is part of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city incorporated in 1939. As of the 2020 census, Glencoe had a population of 5,372.

Its first post office opened in 1895. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,160 to 5,372 (+4%).

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

Timeline

Glencoe, 1877 to 1947

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Keysburgh post office opens
  3. 1889Post officeThe Keysburgh post office closes
  4. 1889Post officeThe Rock Springs post office opens
  5. 1892Post officeThe Nisbet post office opens
  6. 1894Post officeThe Nisbet post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1915Post officeThe Rock Springs post office closes
  9. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Glencoe, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Glencoe City Hall (cropped)2019Glencoe City Hall (cropped)Glencoe Alabama city hall and surroundings2019Glencoe Alabama city hall and surroundings
On the map

Glencoe on the map, 1947 to 1972

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

Glencoe on the 1947 USGS mapGlencoe on the 1956 USGS mapGlencoe on the 1972 USGS map1947Glencoe 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 Glencoe.

People over time

Glencoe, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,000194019601980200020205,372

Grew from 669 people in 1940 to 5,372 in 2020, 8 times over.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Glencoe

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

See all →
Michael BiehnAmerican actor · b. 1956
Y
YelawolfAmerican rapper · b. 1979
Beth GrantAmerican actress · b. 1949
Roy MooreAmerican jurist and politician · b. 1947
Ruth ElderAmerican pilot and actress · b. 1902
M
Mathew KnowlesAmerican music executive, businessman, record p… · b. 1952
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Gadsden13 historic placesA−Hokes BluffIts storyC−SouthsideIts storyD

Questions about Glencoe’s history

What year was Glencoe founded?

The Glencoe post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Glencoe rank for history?

Glencoe is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #129 of 187 in Alabama. 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.

How old are the homes in Glencoe?

3% of Glencoe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1978.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.