The story
Read it all →How Margaret came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Margaret.
The city was established in 1908 as a company town for the Alabama Fuel and Iron Company.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
D−History
History · Margaret
Margaret’s post office opened in 1907
More historic than 2% of U.S. towns · #181 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it
Most of Margaret was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2008. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1950.
1907first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Quick answers
How Margaret began
When was Margaret founded?
1907
The Margaret post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 1,144 in 19502020 census: 5,106119 years
How historic is Margaret?
D−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 2% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Margaret post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Margaret’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Margaret is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns, #181 of 187 in Alabama. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Margaret’s overall grade.
Founding era1907, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 19400.0% of homes (±0.9) · typical AL town 3.2% · U.S. 8.4%D−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 2%
NewerOlder
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 3%
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 Margaret’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 D. The pre-1940 share (±0.9 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 Margaret’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Margaret’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Margaret’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Margaret, census by census
Lost half of its people between 1950 and 1990, then grew 8-fold.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Margaret’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Margaret, 1907 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Margaret on the map, 1958 to 1972
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Margaret. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1958Odenville sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Margaret.
Famous people
See all →2 famous people were born in Margaret
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Margaret’s post office has been open since 1907.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Hill Number 1Hill Number 2Turnbough Town
Gone or out of use
Margaret MinemineMargaret Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Margaret
Austin OldsMacedonia
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Margaret’s history
What year was Margaret founded?
The Margaret post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Margaret rank for history?
Margaret is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns, #181 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 Margaret?
0.0% of Margaret’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 2008.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.