Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Odenville

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
DHistory
History · Odenville

Odenville’s post office opened in 1874

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #139 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it

Most of Odenville was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1920.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Odenville began

When was Odenville founded?

1874

The Odenville post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Branchville (1834), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 375 in 19202020 census: 4,969152 years

How historic is Odenville?

D

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Odenville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Odenville is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #139 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 Odenville’s overall grade.
Founding era1874, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.0% of homes (±1.2) · 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 15%
NewerOlder
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 26%

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 Odenville’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 (±1.2 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 Odenville’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 Odenville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Odenville, and 6 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Odenville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Odenville’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
Places that used to be

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

Odenville’s post office has been open since 1874. Another post office, Branchville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Branchville
1834–1957
Odenville
1874–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BranchvilleCopper SpringsCrockertownGreen Acres EstatesHavilah Hills EstatesShady Acres
Gone or out of use
Brookston MinemineRehoba Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Odenville
BranchvilleLibertyLow Gap

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

The story so far

Odenville, in brief

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

Odenville is a town in St. Clair County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in 1914. At the 2010 census the population was 3,585, up from 1,131 in 2000. It annexed the former town of Branchville in 2007. Odenville annexed a portion of Springville in 2015 due to Springville not running water to some of its residences.

Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,585 to 4,969 (+39%).

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

Timeline

Odenville, 1834 to 1991

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1834Post officeThe Branchville post office opens
  3. 1874Post officeThe Odenville post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1957Post officeThe Branchville post office closes
  6. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1991Born hereDee Ford is 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 album
On the map

Odenville on the map, 1958 to 1972

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

Odenville on the 1958 USGS mapOdenville on the 1972 USGS map1958Odenville 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 Odenville.

People over time

Odenville, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5001920194019601980200020204,969

Grew from 375 people in 1920 to 4,969 in 2020, more than tenfold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

MoodyIts storyDMargaretIts storyD−Springville2 historic placesB+

Questions about Odenville’s history

What year was Odenville founded?

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

How does Odenville rank for history?

Odenville is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #139 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 Odenville?

1% of Odenville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 2001.

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 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.