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History · Kennedy

Kennedy’s post office opened in 1883

Most of Kennedy was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: maps from 1967 on and the census since 1900.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Kennedy began

When was Kennedy founded?

1883

The Kennedy post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 166 in 19002020 census: 435143 years
Founding year: the first Kennedy post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Kennedy’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Kennedy are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 604 in 1980; 435 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kennedy’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kennedy’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
People over time

Kennedy, census by census

01002003004005006001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 604

Peaked at 604 in 1980; 435 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story so far

Kennedy, in brief

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

Kennedy is a town in Lamar County, Alabama, United States. It was incorporated by an act of the legislature on February 18, 1895. As of the 2020 census, Kennedy had a population of 435.

Its first post office opened in 1883. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 447 to 435 (-3%).

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

Timeline

Kennedy, 1883 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Kennedy post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1946Born hereWilliam J. Hibbler is born here
  5. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 604
By decade

Kennedy, decade by decade

Today1 recent
ALMap-doton-Kennedy2004ALMap-doton-Kennedy
On the map

Kennedy on the map, 1967 to 1982

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

Kennedy on the 1967 USGS mapKennedy on the 1982 USGS map1967Kennedy 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 Kennedy.

Questions about Kennedy’s history

What year was Kennedy founded?

The Kennedy post office opened in 1883, 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 (1), 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.