History · Triana

Triana’s post office opened in 1819, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns · #84 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it

Most of Triana was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2013. Its Register listing is the Warden's Residence. Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1880.

1819first post office

1on the National Register

0.0%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Quick answers

How Triana began

When was Triana founded?

1819

The Triana post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 146 in 18802020 census: 2,890207 years

How historic is Triana?

C⁺

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Triana post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Triana’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Triana is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #84 of 187 in Alabama. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Triana’s overall grade.

Founding era1819, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±0.8) · typical AL town 3.2% · U.S. 8.4%D⁻National Register1 listing, 2 historic buildings, 5.0 per 10,000 residents · typical AL town 2.7 · U.S. 2.4B

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 44%

NewerOlder

Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 55%

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 Triana’s 5.0 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 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 Triana’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 Triana are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1819: 207 years of Triana.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Triana’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Triana’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

Timeline

Triana, 1819 to 1987

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

19th century
1819Post officeThe Triana post office opens
20th century
1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1982Born hereBrontez Purnell is born here
1987Post officeThe Triana post office closes

The story

How Triana came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Triana.

Read it all →

Triana was originally incorporated on November 13, 1819, as the second town in Madison County. It purportedly was named after Rodrigo de Triana, the crewman who first sighted land while sailing with Christopher Columbus on their first voyage to the Americas. For a time in the 19th century, it was a thriving riverport on the Tennessee River prior to the construction of the railroads. Its incorporation later lapsed and it was reincorporated on July 13, 1964, with the help of Clyde Foster, who later became Triana's mayor. Until the 2020 census, it was the only incorporated community in Madison County with a majority black population.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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

Triana on the map, 1936 to 1982

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

1936Triana 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 Triana.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Triana

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

2010

Warden's Residence

Buildings

Warden's ResidenceBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Triana, census by census

Grew from 146 people in 1880 to 2,890 in 2020, more than tenfold.

7 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Triana had its own post office from 1819 to 1987.

Triana

1819–1987

18101920today

4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Triana

Batts - WardCollierNew TrianaTriana

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Huntsville72 historic placesB⁺

Questions about Triana’s history

What year was Triana founded?

The Triana post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Triana rank for history?

Triana is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #84 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.

What is on the National Register in Triana?

One place: the Warden's Residence (listed 2010).

How old are the homes in Triana?

0.0% of Triana’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 2013.

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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.

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