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DHistory
History · Moody

Moody’s post office opened in 1882

More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #142 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it

Most of Moody was built recently: 0.7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1970.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
0.7%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Moody began

When was Moody founded?

1882

The Moody post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Round Pond (1854), Brompton (1888) and Taylorsburg (1890), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 504 in 19702020 census: 13,170144 years

How historic is Moody?

D

More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Moody’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Moody is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #142 of 187 in Alabama. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Moody’s overall grade.
Founding era1882, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.7% of homes (±0.7) · 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 14%
NewerOlder
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 24%

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 Moody’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 (±0.7 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 Moody’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Moody, and 16 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Moody are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

Moody had its own post office from 1882 to 1905. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Round Pond
1854–1890
Moody
1882–1905
Brompton
1888–1910
Taylorsburg
1890–1905
Acmar
1911–1987
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AcmarBraggsvilleBromptonForest HillsHeritage ParkHundred OaksMarkeetaMonte Bello EstatesParsonsRidgewood EstatesSaint Clair ForestSpring Valley EstatesTwin Lake EstatesValleyhavenWhites ChapelWoodland Village
Gone or out of use
Acmar Elementary SchoolschoolActon MinemineAdkins MilllocaleHopewell Methodist ChurchchurchMoodys SchoolschoolTaylorsburglocale
1cemetery inside Moody
Moody

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

Help out

Start Moody’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Moody’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
The story

How Moody came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Moody.

Read it all →

Moody was founded in 1907, named after a local businessman named Epps Moody.

In the early days, the city was primarily an agricultural community, with cotton and timber being the main crops. However, with the arrival of the railroad in the early 20th century, Moody began to grow and develop into a more industrialized city. Today, the city is home to a number of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, and retail.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Moody, 1854 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Round Pond post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Moody post office opens
  4. 1888Post officeThe Brompton post office opens
  5. 1890Post officeThe Round Pond post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1905Post officeThe Moody post office closes
  8. 1910Post officeThe Brompton post office closes
  9. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Moody, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Rivian EDV front2025Rivian EDV front
On the map

Moody on the map, 1962 to 1972

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

Moody on the 1962 USGS mapMoody on the 1972 USGS map1962Cooks Springs 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 Moody.

People over time

Moody, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00019802000202013,170

Grew from 504 people in 1970 to 13,170 in 2020, more than tenfold.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

OdenvilleIts storyDTrussville1 historic placeB+Leeds3 historic placesB−

Questions about Moody’s history

What year was Moody founded?

The Moody post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Moody rank for history?

Moody is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #142 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 Moody?

0.7% of Moody’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 2002.

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 (1), Wikipedia, 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.