The story
Read it all →How Hillrose came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Hillrose.
The town was named after Rose Hill Emerson, daughter of early landholder.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Hillrose
Hillrose’s post office opened in 1900, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1930.
1900first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Hillrose began
When was Hillrose founded?
1900
The Hillrose post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 210 in 19302020 census: 312126 years
Founding year: the first Hillrose post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Hillrose’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 Hillrose’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hillrose’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Hillrose, census by census
Lost a third of its people between 1930 and 1970, then more than doubled.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hillrose’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Hillrose, 1900 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 20th century
- 1900Post officeThe Hillrose post office opens
- 1951
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 21st century
- 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 312
By decade
Hillrose, decade by decade
Today2 recent
2017
2005On the map
Hillrose on the map, 1951 to 1984
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hillrose. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1951Brush East 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 Hillrose.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Hillrose
Nobody well known was born in Hillrose itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
P
Pat DayAmerican jockey · b. 1953
N
Nancy Ekholm BurkertAmerican illustrator · b. 1933Questions about Hillrose’s history
What year was Hillrose founded?
The Hillrose post office opened in 1900, 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 (2), Wikipedia, 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.