The story
Read it all →How McCoy came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of McCoy.
The McCoy Post Office has been in operation since 1891. The community was named after Charles H. McCoy, a cattleman.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · McCoy
McCoy’s post office opened in 1891, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
Its Register listing is the Waterwheel. Below: maps from 1972 on.
1891first post office
1on the National Register
Quick answers
How McCoy began
When was McCoy founded?
1891
The McCoy post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 30135 years
Founding year: the first McCoy post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about McCoy’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 McCoy’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how McCoy’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
McCoy, 1891 to 1972
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1891Post officeThe McCoy post office opens
- 20th century
- 1922
BuiltWaterwheel is built - 1972
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
McCoy, decade by decade
2016
2016
2016
2011
2011
2011
2010
2010On the map
McCoy on the map in 1972
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of McCoy.
1972Mc Coy 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 McCoy.
On the National Register
1 historic place in McCoy
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1977
Waterwheel
Structures
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to McCoy
Nobody well known was born in McCoy itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Questions about McCoy’s history
What year was McCoy founded?
The McCoy post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in McCoy?
One place: the Waterwheel (listed 1977).
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 (8), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.