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History · Loachapoka

Loachapoka’s post office opened in 1874, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Loachapoka was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 17 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1971 on, and the census since 1880.

1874first post office
1on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Loachapoka’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Loachapoka began

When was Loachapoka founded?

1874

The Loachapoka post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 408 in 18802020 census: 160152 years
Founding year: the first Loachapoka post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Loachapoka came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Loachapoka.

Read it all →

Loachapoka was a Creek Indian town for some decades prior to white settlement. In the last census prior to the Native removal to Oklahoma, Loachapoka was found to have a population of 564. During the Creek War of 1836, Loachapoka was a center of rebellion; the town was destroyed by a force of Alabama and Georgia militia and friendly Creeks on May 15, 1836. Upon settlement by Euro-Americans, Loachapoka—temporarily renamed Ball's Fork—became the regional trade center, a position that was reinforced in 1845, when it became the easternmost point on the railroad to Montgomery. Loachapoka's influence peaked in the early 1870s, when its population reached nearly 1,300. Within a few years, a collapse of trade due to the Panic of 1873 and additional rail lines in the area sent Loachapoka into economic decline. Loachapoka roughly stabilized as a small farming community by the mid-20th century, an…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Loachapoka, 1874 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Loachapoka post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1926Born hereFreddie Hart is born here
  5. 1933In the archiveFRONT VIEW - EAST ELEVATION + SOUTH SIDE. - Hammack Plantation House, Waverly Road, Loach…
  6. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Loachapoka, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s4 items
FRONT VIEW - EAST ELEVATION + SOUTH SIDE. - Hammack Plantation House, Waverly Road, Loachapoka, Lee County, AL HABS ALA…1933FRONT VIEW - EAST ELEVATION + SOUTH SIDE. - Hammack P…FRONT VIEW - SOUTH ELEVATION. - Baptist Church, Stage Road, Loachapoka, Lee County, AL HABS ALA,41-LOCA,1-11933FRONT VIEW - SOUTH ELEVATION. - Baptist Church, Stage…HABS ALA,41-LOCA.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Hammack Plantation House, Waverly Road1933HABS ALA,41-LOCA.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Hammack Planta…HABS ALA,41-LOCA.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Hammack Plantation House, Waverly Road1933HABS ALA,41-LOCA.V,1- (sheet 2 of 3) - Hammack Planta…
1940s–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
Date unknown2 to date
REAR VIEW - NORTH ELEVATION. - Baptist Church, Stage Road, Loachapoka, Lee County, AL HABS ALA,41-LOCA,1-2Date?REAR VIEW - NORTH ELEVATION. - Baptist Church, Stage …REAR VIEW - WEST ELEVATION. - Hammack Plantation House, Waverly Road, Loachapoka, Lee County, AL HABS ALA,41-LOCA.V,1-2Date?REAR VIEW - WEST ELEVATION. - Hammack Plantation Hous…
Today15 recent
Loachapoka, AL Town Hall2012Loachapoka, AL Town HallLoachapoka, AL Post Office (36865)2012Loachapoka, AL Post Office (36865)Loachapoka, AL High School2012Loachapoka, AL High SchoolTheRattlingGourdArtGallery2007TheRattlingGourdArtGallerySyrupSoppingSign22007SyrupSoppingSign2SyrupSoppingSign2007SyrupSoppingSignSaugahatcheeCreek2007SaugahatcheeCreekSaugahatcheeBridge2007SaugahatcheeBridgeRuthPurdySpeakeHistoricSite22007RuthPurdySpeakeHistoricSite2RuthPurdySpeakeHistoricSite12007RuthPurdySpeakeHistoricSite1LoachapokaDowntownWithMap2007LoachapokaDowntownWithMapLoachapokaDowntown22007LoachapokaDowntown2LeeCountyMuseum2007LeeCountyMuseumFredsFeedandSeedFacade2007FredsFeedandSeedFacadeAL-Loachapoka-location-in-Lee-County2006AL-Loachapoka-location-in-Lee-County
On the map

Loachapoka on the map, 1971 to 1998

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

Loachapoka on the 1971 USGS mapLoachapoka on the 1983 USGS mapLoachapoka on the 1998 USGS map1971Loachapoka 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 Loachapoka.

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.

FRONT VIEW - EAST ELEVATION + SOUTH SIDE. - Hammack Plantation House, Waverly Road, Loachapoka, Lee County, AL HABS ALA…
Retake this viewFRONT VIEW - EAST ELEVATION + SOUTH SIDE. - Hammack Plantation House, Waverly Road, Loachapoka, Lee County, AL HABS ALA…, 1933

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 17 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
17
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Loachapoka Historic District
Loachapoka Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Victorian1
Loachapoka Historic DistrictGreek Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Loachapoka, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 408

Between 160 and 408 people in every census since 1880.

9 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Help out

Start Loachapoka’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewFRONT VIEW - EAST ELEVATION + SOUTH SID…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Loachapoka’s history

What year was Loachapoka founded?

The Loachapoka post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Loachapoka?

One place: the Loachapoka Historic District (listed 1973).

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 (21), the National Register of Historic Places (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.