Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Sipsey was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1970.
The Sipsey post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Janeburgh (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sipsey’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sipsey.
Sipsey was founded in the early 1912-13 as a company town for the DeBardeleben Coal Company, founded by coal magnates Henry T. DeBardeleben, Milton Fies, and Nicholas M. Norris. The town served the company's employees in the nearby mines. The mine production began in 1913. At one point the town had as many as 900 residents.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveDebardeleben Coal Corp. Sipsey Mine, Sipsey, Walker County, Alabama. Baseball diamond on …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sipsey. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sipsey.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sipsey’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 363 and 678 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sipsey’s Wikipedia page.
Sipsey’s post office has been open since 1901. Another post office, Janeburgh, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Sipsey post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), Wikipedia, 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.
1946
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1946
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