The story
Read it all →How Horatio came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Horatio.
For several years until at least 1905, Horatio was a sundown town, where African Americans were not allowed to live.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Horatio
Horatio’s post office opened in 1895
Most of Horatio was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1900.
1895first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Horatio began
When was Horatio founded?
1895
The Horatio post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 625 in 19002020 census: 920131 years
Founding year: the first Horatio post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Horatio’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Horatio’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Horatio’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Every building
Horatio, building by building, 1913–1919
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1913Sheet 1 of 1Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Horatio, decade by decade
Today1 recent
2005On the map
Horatio on the map, 1951 to 1975
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Horatio. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1951Horatio sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Horatio.
People over time
Horatio, census by census
Between 605 and 1,044 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Horatio’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Horatio’s history
What year was Horatio founded?
The Horatio post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.