Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Shorter

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
–Not graded
History · Shorter

Shorter’s post office opened in 1893

Most of Shorter was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1990.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Rivers A. Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Shorter began

When was Shorter founded?

1893

The Shorter post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Shorter's Depot (1866), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 461 in 19902020 census: 385133 years
Founding year: the first Shorter post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Shorter’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 Shorter are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shorter’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shorter’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 so far

Shorter, in brief

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

Shorter is a town in Macon County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 385, down from 474 at the 2010 census. According to the 1990 U.S. Census records, it was incorporated in 1984.

Its first post office opened in 1893. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 474 to 385 (-19%).

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

Timeline

Shorter, 1866 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1866Post officeThe Shorter's Depot post office opens
  3. 1893Post officeThe Shorter's Depot post office closes
  4. 1893Post officeThe Shorter post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1936Born hereMorris Dees is born here
  7. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Shorter, decade by decade

Today1 recent
2024 Shorter, AL EF0 prelim path20242024 Shorter, AL EF0 prelim path
On the map

Shorter on the map, 1971 to 1981

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

Shorter on the 1971 USGS mapShorter on the 1981 USGS map1971Shorter 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 Shorter.

People over time

Shorter, census by census

010020030040050020002020Peak: 474

Between 355 and 474 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Shorter’s post office has been open since 1893. Another post office, Shorter's Depot, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Shorter's Depot
1866–1893
Shorter
1893–today
18601940today

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

Questions about Shorter’s history

What year was Shorter founded?

The Shorter post office opened in 1893, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.