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History · White Plains

White Plains’ post office opened in 1837

Most of White Plains was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1972 on, and the census since 1880.

1837first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From White Plains’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How White Plains began

When was White Plains founded?

1837

The White Plains post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Jenkins (1876), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 140 in 18802020 census: 877189 years
Founding year: the first White Plains post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about White Plains’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of White Plains.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start White Plains’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewCook-Johnson House: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

White Plains, 1837 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe White Plains post office opens
  3. 1876Post officeThe Jenkins post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1901Post officeThe Jenkins post office closes
  6. 1906Post officeThe White Plains post office closes
  7. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

White Plains, in brief

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

White Plains is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. Its population was 877 as of the 2020 census. The community is located in eastern Calhoun County along Alabama Highway 9.

Its first post office opened in 1837. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 811 to 877 (+8%).

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

By decade

White Plains, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Cook-Johnson HouseDate?Cook-Johnson House
On the map

White Plains on the map, 1972 to 2001

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

White Plains on the 1972 USGS mapWhite Plains on the 1983 USGS mapWhite Plains on the 2001 USGS map1972Choccolocco 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 White Plains.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Cook-Johnson House
Retake this viewCook-Johnson House

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on White Plains’ page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

White Plains, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020877

Grew from 140 people in 1880 to 877 in 2020, 6 times over.

4 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

White Plains had its own post office from 1837 to 1906. Another post office, Jenkins, opened and closed inside today’s town.

White Plains
1837–1906
Jenkins
1876–1901
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
JenkinsWhite
Gone or out of use
Arthur Wellborn SchoolschoolCoosa Fieldslocale
1cemetery inside White Plains
Williamson - Little

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

Questions about White Plains’ history

What year was White Plains founded?

The White Plains post office opened in 1837, 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 the Library of Congress (1), 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.