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History · Bee Branch

Bee Branch’s post office opened in 1860, and 3 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Bee Branch was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Its Register listings are the Collums-Baker House, the Art Scanlan House and the South Side High School Sign. Below: maps from 1961 on.

1860first post office
3on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Bee Branch began

When was Bee Branch founded?

1860

The Bee Branch post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 293166 years
Founding year: the first Bee Branch post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

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

Start Bee Branch’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bee Branch’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Bee Branch came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bee Branch.

Read it all →

The community has had a post office since Willie D. Neal was named postmaster in 1860. When the post office moved in 1879 near the present-day intersection of U.S. 65 and Highway 92, it applied for the name Crossroads, but was rejected as it had already been duplicated in several parts of the state. The name Bee Branch was chosen for a large beehive in a tree near the post office.

Bee Branch was indirectly affected by an outbreak of tornadoes in November 2005.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bee Branch, 1860 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1860Post officeThe Bee Branch post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1936Born hereJim McKnight is born here
  5. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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On the map

Bee Branch on the map, 1961 to 1991

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

Bee Branch on the 1961 USGS mapBee Branch on the 1975 USGS mapBee Branch on the 1991 USGS map1961Bee Branch 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 Bee Branch.

On the National Register

3 historic places in Bee Branch

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1992
Collums-Baker House
Collums-Baker HouseArt Scanlan House
BuildingsObjects
Collums-Baker HouseBuilding
Art Scanlan HouseBuilding
All 3 listings
South Side High School SignObject · listed 2023

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

Questions about Bee Branch’s history

What year was Bee Branch founded?

The Bee Branch post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Bee Branch?

Three places: the Collums-Baker House (listed 1992), the Art Scanlan House (1999) and the South Side High School Sign (2023).

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 National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.