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History · Petrey

Petrey’s post office opened in 1887, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1968 on and the census since 1920.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Petrey began

When was Petrey founded?

1887

The Petrey post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 165 in 19202020 census: 67139 years
Founding year: the first Petrey post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Petrey’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 Petrey are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 258 in 1940; 67 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Petrey’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Petrey’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Petrey, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 258

Peaked at 258 in 1940; 67 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story so far

Petrey, in brief

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

Petrey is a town in Crenshaw County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, Petrey had a population of 67.

Its first post office opened in 1887. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 58 to 67 (+16%).

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

Timeline

Petrey, 1887 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Petrey post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 258
  5. 1968On 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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On the map

Petrey on the map, 1968 to 1986

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

Petrey on the 1968 USGS mapPetrey on the 1986 USGS map1968Petrey 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 Petrey.

Questions about Petrey’s history

What year was Petrey founded?

The Petrey post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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, 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.