Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Lineville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
C+History
History · Lineville

Lineville’s post office opened in 1870, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1890.

1870first post office
0on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lineville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lineville began

When was Lineville founded?

1870

The Lineville post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, County Line (1856), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 234 in 18902020 census: 2,489156 years

How historic is Lineville?

C+

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Lineville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lineville is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lineville’s overall grade.
Founding era1870, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194015.4% of homes (±7.2) · typical AL town 3.2% · U.S. 8.4%BNational 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 35%
NewerOlder

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 Lineville’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 C− to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.2 points). 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 Lineville’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18913 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1978. Watch Lineville change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lineville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lineville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view"Before" Chairman and ex. Secretary of …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Lineville on the map, 1891 to 1978

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

Lineville on the 1891 USGS mapLineville on the 1969 USGS mapLineville on the 1978 USGS map1891Ashland 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 Lineville.

The story

How Lineville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lineville.

Read it all →

Native Americans were the first to inhabit the area now known as Lineville. The Creek Indian War of 1813, however, resulted in their removal. The first white settlers in the area were William and Thomas Lundie. Their settlement became known as Lundie's Cross Roads after a trading post opened in the 1830s to serve pioneers and miners searching for gold. In 1856, Lundie's Cross Roads became known as County Line, probably for the Baptist Church, founded in 1848 and located on what was then the boundary line between Talladega and Randolph counties. Also in 1856, a post office was established in County Line, schools were consolidated and corn and cotton became cash crops.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lineville, 1856 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe County Line post office opens
  3. 1870Post officeThe County Line post office closes
  4. 1870Post officeThe Lineville post office opens
  5. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1921In the archive"Before" Chairman and ex. Secretary of East Clay Co. Chapter. Cite selected for Hut
  8. 1951Born hereK. L. Brown is born here
  9. 1953In the archiveBayview trailer park
  10. 1968In the archiveOla Cotney monkey
By decade

Lineville, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1960s3 items
"Before" Chairman and ex. Secretary of East Clay Co. Chapter. Cite selected for Hut1921"Before" Chairman and ex. Secretary of East Clay Co. …Bayview trailer park1953Bayview trailer parkOla Cotney monkey1968Ola Cotney monkey
1970s–1990snothing 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
Today15 recent
Lineville Alabama downtown 082000Lineville Alabama downtown 08Lineville Alabama downtown 072000Lineville Alabama downtown 07Lineville Alabama downtown 062000Lineville Alabama downtown 06Lineville Alabama downtown 042000Lineville Alabama downtown 04Lineville Alabama downtown 0202000Lineville Alabama downtown 020Lineville Alabama downtown 022000Lineville Alabama downtown 02Lineville Alabama downtown 0182000Lineville Alabama downtown 018Lineville Alabama downtown 0172000Lineville Alabama downtown 017Lineville Alabama downtown 0162000Lineville Alabama downtown 016Lineville Alabama downtown 0142000Lineville Alabama downtown 014Lineville Alabama downtown 0132000Lineville Alabama downtown 013Lineville Alabama downtown 0122000Lineville Alabama downtown 012Lineville Alabama downtown 0112000Lineville Alabama downtown 011Lineville Alabama downtown 0102000Lineville Alabama downtown 010Lineville Alabama Piggly Wiggly 022000Lineville Alabama Piggly Wiggly 02
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.

"Before" Chairman and ex. Secretary of East Clay Co. Chapter. Cite selected for Hut
Retake this view"Before" Chairman and ex. Secretary of East Clay Co. Chapter. Cite selected for Hut, 1921

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Lineville, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,50019001920194019601980200020202,489

Grew from 234 people in 1890 to 2,489 in 2020, more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

Lineville’s post office has been open since 1870. Another post office, County Line, opened and closed inside today’s town.

County Line
1856–1870
Lineville
1870–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Midway
Gone or out of use
Court HilllocaleRudd ProspectmineSpring Hill Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lineville
BellviewLineville CityMacedonia Primitive Baptist ChurchMount ZionOlive Branch Baptist

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

Questions about Lineville’s history

What year was Lineville founded?

The Lineville post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Lineville rank for history?

Lineville is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. 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 Lineville?

15% of Lineville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1976.

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 (17), the Library of Congress (1), 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.