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History · Our Town

Half of Our Town’s homes were built after 1984

Most of Our Town was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1906 on.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Rivers Langley · CC BY-SA 4.0

What stands out about Our Town’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 Our Town are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Our Town, and 3 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19063 editions of the USGS map, 1906 to 1981. Watch Our Town change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Our Town’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Our Town’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 and places now gone

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bulger's Mills
1848–1896
Bulgers
1896–1902
Dyke
1896–1902
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BulgersDykeWind Creek Farms
Gone or out of use
Ourtown Schoolschool

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

On the map

Our Town on the map, 1906 to 1981

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

Our Town on the 1906 USGS mapOur Town on the 1971 USGS mapOur Town on the 1981 USGS map1906Dadeville 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 Our Town.

The story so far

Our Town, in brief

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

Our Town is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, Our Town had a population of 605. Our Town had its start around 1913 when the railroad was extended to that point. The community was named by John S. Jones by saying, "It's not your town, or my town, it is Our Town".(5)

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 641 to 605 (-6%).

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

Timeline

Our Town, 1848 to 1906

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Bulger's Mills post office opens
  3. 1896Post officeThe Bulger's Mills post office closes
  4. 1896Post officeThe Bulgers post office opens
  5. 1896Post officeThe Dyke post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1902Post officeThe Bulgers post office closes
  8. 1902Post officeThe Dyke post office closes
  9. 1906On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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Famous people

Famous people close to Our Town

Nobody well known was born in Our Town itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Zora Neale HurstonAfrican American folklorist, novelist, short st… · b. 1891
Terrell OwensAmerican football player · b. 1973
R
Robert Daniel CarmichaelAmerican mathematician · b. 1879
Jamario MoonAmerican basketball player · b. 1980
John Malcolm Patterson44th Governor of Alabama · b. 1921
Charles Allen CulbersonAmerican politician · b. 1855
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Alexander City7 historic placesB−

Questions about Our Town’s history

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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.