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C−History
History · Irondale

Irondale’s post office opened in 1872

More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #135 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it

Most of Irondale was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1900.

1872first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Irondale’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Irondale began

When was Irondale founded?

1872

The Irondale post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lovick (1902), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 525 in 19002020 census: 13,497154 years

How historic is Irondale?

C−

More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Irondale’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Irondale is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #135 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 Irondale’s overall grade.
Founding era1872, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.4% of homes (±1.0) · typical AL town 3.2% · U.S. 8.4%DNational 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 16%
NewerOlder
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 28%

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 Irondale’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 (±1.0 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 Irondale’s past

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

Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Irondale, and 29 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19054 editions of the USGS map, 1905 to 1998. Watch Irondale change.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1880–1993.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

Irondale had its own post office from 1872 to 1945. Another post office, Lovick, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Irondale
1872–1945
Lovick
1902–1968
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AltonBattlegroundBrentwood HillsBrookmontBryan EstatesCahaba LandingCherry Brook EstatesEast IrondaleEastwood Mobile Home PlazaFive Points EastHampton PlaceHunters HillJefferson ParkLola CityLovickMoore CornerMountain ForestOld Leeds ForestOvertonPineviewPlaza Mobile Home ParkQueenstownRock RidgeRoebuck Plaza
Gone or out of use
Ratliffe Minemine
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Irondale
BassForest Crest

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

On the map

Irondale on the map, 1905 to 1998

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

Irondale on the 1905 USGS mapIrondale on the 1959 USGS mapIrondale on the 1970 USGS mapIrondale on the 1998 USGS map1905Leeds sheet · 1:62,500

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

By decade

Irondale, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item
1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Alabama - Jefferson County - Irondale - ED 37-7518801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Alabama - Jef…
1890s–1980snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1990s11 items
EXTERIOR ELEVATION AND OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE, LOOKING NORTH, WITH DRIVE WHEELS IN FOREGROUND. - Norfolk and Southern Stea…1993EXTERIOR ELEVATION AND OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE, LOOKING N…EXTERIOR ELEVATION, LOOKING SOUTH, ALSO SHOWING THE NORFOLK SOUTHERN STEAM RESTORATION FLOOR INTERIOR WITH A DRILL PRES…1993EXTERIOR ELEVATION, LOOKING SOUTH, ALSO SHOWING THE N…EXTERIOR FRONT VIEW. - Norfolk and Southern Steam Locomotive No. 611, Norris Yards, East of Ruffner Road1993EXTERIOR FRONT VIEW. - Norfolk and Southern Steam Loc…EXTERIOR VIEW OF REAR (SMOKE BOX END) AND SIDE ELEVATIONS. - Norfolk and Southern Steam Locomotive No. 1218, Norris Yar…1993EXTERIOR VIEW OF REAR (SMOKE BOX END) AND SIDE ELEVAT…EXTERIOR VIEW, LEFT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE WITH DRIVE WHEELS AND RODS. - Norfolk and Southern Steam Locomotive No. 611, Nor…1993EXTERIOR VIEW, LEFT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE WITH DRIVE WHE…EXTERIOR VIEW, LEFT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE WITH TENDER AND AUXILIARY TENDER. - Norfolk and Southern Steam Locomotive No. 61…1993EXTERIOR VIEW, LEFT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE WITH TENDER AN…EXTERIOR VIEW, LEFT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE. - Norfolk and Southern Steam Locomotive No. 611, Norris Yards, East of Ruffner …1993EXTERIOR VIEW, LEFT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE. - Norfolk and…EXTERIOR VIEW, OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE, DRIVE WHEEL ASSEMBLY. - Norfolk and Southern Steam Locomotive No. 1218, Norris Yard…1993EXTERIOR VIEW, OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE, DRIVE WHEEL ASSEM…EXTERIOR VIEW, OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE, LEFT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE. - Norfolk and Southern Steam Locomotive No. 611, Norris Ya…1993EXTERIOR VIEW, OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE, LEFT SIDE OF LOCO…EXTERIOR VIEW, QUARTERING MACHINE, MADE BY NILE TOOL WORKS, HAMILTON, OHIO, 1949. - Norris Steam Restoration Shop, Norr…1993EXTERIOR VIEW, QUARTERING MACHINE, MADE BY NILE TOOL …EXTERIOR VIEW, RIGHT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE SHOWING WHEEL ASSEMBLY WITH BIG END OF MAIN ROD (TOP), ECCENTRIC CRANK (CENTER)…1993EXTERIOR VIEW, RIGHT SIDE OF LOCOMOTIVE SHOWING WHEEL…
The story

How Irondale came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Irondale.

Read it all →

On October 5, 1887, the people of Irondale petitioned for incorporation. The town incorporated as Irondale (after Irondale Furnace) on October 19, 1887, following a vote on October 17, 1887. In 1891, Golden Rule Bar-B-Q, the oldest restaurant in Alabama, was founded in Irondale.

The 1916 Irondale earthquake, magnitude 5.1, caused some damage in the area, and was felt in neighboring states.

In 1981, Mother Angelica founded the Eternal Word Television Network, after starting operations in a garage.

On August 25, 2020, Irondale voters elected James D. Stewart Jr. as the first black mayor in the city's history.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Irondale, 1872 to 1993

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Irondale post office opens
  3. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Alabama - Jefferson County - Irondale - ED 37-75
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Lovick post office opens
  6. 1905On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1945Post officeThe Irondale post office closes
  8. 1966Born hereMarion Hobby is born here
  9. 1968Post officeThe Lovick post office closes
  10. 1993In the archiveEXTERIOR ELEVATION AND OBLIQUE PERSPECTIVE, LOOKING NORTH, WITH DRIVE WHEELS IN FOREGROUN…
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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Alabama - Jefferson County - Irondale - ED 37-75
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Alabama - Jefferson County - Irondale - ED 37-75, 1880

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Irondale, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,000190019201940196019802000202013,497

Grew from 525 people in 1900 to 13,497 in 2020, more than tenfold.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Irondale’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Birmingham147 historic placesA−Trussville1 historic placeB+Leeds3 historic placesB−Vestavia HillsIts storyD−Mountain Brook5 historic placesA−

Questions about Irondale’s history

What year was Irondale founded?

The Irondale post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Irondale rank for history?

Irondale is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #135 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 Irondale?

1% of Irondale’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1979.

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 (12), 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.