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Downtown Trussville, Alabama, a suburb of BirminghamPhoto: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0
B+History
History · Trussville

Trussville’s post office opened in 1836, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #34 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it

Most of Trussville was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 265 buildings. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1890.

1836first post office
1on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
7famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Trussville began

When was Trussville founded?

1836

The Trussville post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Truss (1828), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 462 in 18902020 census: 26,123190 years

How historic is Trussville?

B+

More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Trussville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Trussville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Trussville is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #34 of 187 in Alabama. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Trussville’s overall grade.
Founding era1836, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19403.5% of homes (±1.6) · typical AL town 3.2% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 265 historic buildings, 99.4 per 10,000 residents · typical AL town 2.7 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 72%
NewerOlder
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 82%

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 Trussville’s 99.4 sits above most of its state (83% of Alabama towns have fewer) while its 265 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 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 Trussville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Cahaba Homestead Village Historic District takes in 265 historic buildings.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Trussville, and 20 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Trussville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19054 editions of the USGS map, 1905 to 1998. Watch Trussville change.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 listing protects 265 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
265
each building in a district counts
first listed
2006
Cahaba Homestead Village Historic District
Cahaba Homestead Village Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
Classical Revival1
Massed Plan Cottage1
All 1 listings
Cahaba Homestead Village Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2006

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Trussville’s post office has been open since 1836. Another post office, Truss, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Truss
1828–1868
Trussville
1836–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Breakstone VillageCahaba CoveCahaba CrestCahaba VillageCotton RidgeEast TrussvilleEcho HillsMeadowview EstatesMoss RockRoddams Trailer ParkRolling HillsRoperSaddlewoodSherman OaksSouthern AcresTrussville ManorTutwiler FarmVannsWest RidgeWoodward
Gone or out of use
Lacy Buke FurnacelocaleVann QuarrymineWilkeslocaleWorthington Ore Minesmine
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Trussville
Jefferson Memorial GardensMount NeboTrussville

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

Help out

Start Trussville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Trussville’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

How Trussville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Trussville.

Read it all →

The first European settler to establish residence in the area was Warren Truss, who entered the area with his brothers and constructed a grist mill on the Cahaba River in 1821. Truss was a North Carolina man of English descent. Trussville remained an agricultural community until after the Civil War, when the Alabama-Chattanooga Railway was built through the city. By 1886 a blast furnace was built on what is now the site of the new Cahaba Elementary School. Trussville was listed as an incorporated community on the 1890 and 1900 U.S. Census rolls. At some point after 1900 until its reincorporation in 1947, it did not appear on census records.

ChaptersEarly settlementCahaba ProjectIncorporation and growth

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Trussville, 1828 to 1999

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1828Post officeThe Truss post office opens
  3. 1836Post officeThe Trussville post office opens
  4. 1868Post officeThe Truss post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1905On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1964Born hereRebecca Gilman is born here
  8. 1983Born hereBrandon Cox is born here
  9. 1994Born hereCasey Dunn is born here
  10. 1999Born hereNoah Igbinoghene is born here
By decade

Trussville, decade by decade

Today11 recent
Downtown Trussville, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham2024Downtown Trussville, Alabama, a suburb of BirminghamThe lobby of the Hilton Garden Inn in2023The lobby of the Hilton Garden Inn inThe interior of a Taziki's Mediterranean Café in2023The interior of a Taziki's Mediterranean Café inTrussville middle school2022Trussville middle schoolHewitt trussville middle school2022Hewitt trussville middle schoolHewitt Trussville High School Football Stadium2020Hewitt Trussville High School Football StadiumHewitt Trussville High School Football Stadium 22020Hewitt Trussville High School Football Stadium 2CAHABA HOMESTEAD VILLAGE PANORAMIC (1 of 1)2017CAHABA HOMESTEAD VILLAGE PANORAMIC (1 of 1)Trussville, AL, USA2015Trussville, AL, USATrussvilleMunicipalBldg2009TrussvilleMunicipalBldgFlagpole - panoramio (2)2009Flagpole - panoramio (2)
On the map

Trussville on the map, 1905 to 1998

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

Trussville on the 1905 USGS mapTrussville on the 1959 USGS mapTrussville on the 1970 USGS mapTrussville on the 1998 USGS map1905Leeds sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Trussville.

People over time

Trussville, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,000190019201940196019802000202026,123

Grew from 462 people in 1890 to 26,123 in 2020, more than tenfold.

10 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Famous people

7 famous people were born in Trussville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Noah IgbinogheneAmerican football player · b. 1999
Brandon CoxAmerican football player · b. 1983
Casey DunnAmerican football center · b. 1994
R
Rebecca GilmanAmerican playwright · b. 1964
Robert J. NatterRecipient of the Purple Heart medal · b. 1945
S
Samuel RoperAmerican Ku Klux Klan member · b. 1895
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Birmingham147 historic placesA−ClayIts storyC−IrondaleIts storyC−ArgoIts storyD−MoodyIts storyDGrayson ValleyIts storyDMargaretIts storyD−

Questions about Trussville’s history

What year was Trussville founded?

The Trussville post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Trussville rank for history?

Trussville is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #34 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 Trussville?

One place: the Cahaba Homestead Village Historic District (listed 2006).

How old are the homes in Trussville?

4% of Trussville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 3.2% for an Alabama town; the median home was built in 1999.

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 Wikimedia Commons (11), 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.