Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bascom

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Bascom

Bascom’s post office opened in 1886, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1970.

1886first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Bascom began

When was Bascom founded?

1886

The Bascom post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 87 in 19702020 census: 87140 years
Founding year: the first Bascom post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Bascom’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 Bascom are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 134 in 1980; 87 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Bascom’s homes were built before 1949.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bascom’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Bascom, census by census

0100198020002020Peak: 134

Peaked at 134 in 1980; 87 people lived here in 2020.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

The story so far

Bascom, in brief

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

Bascom is a town in Jackson County, Florida, United States. The town is located on the Florida Panhandle in North Florida, and is 5 miles (8 km) south of the Alabama border. The population was 87 at the time of the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1886. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 121 to 87 (-28%).

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

Timeline

Bascom, 1886 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Bascom post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 134
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Bascom on the map, 1952 to 1994

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

Bascom on the 1952 USGS mapBascom on the 1982 USGS mapBascom on the 1994 USGS map1952Bascom 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 Bascom.

Questions about Bascom’s history

What year was Bascom founded?

The Bascom post office opened in 1886, 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 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.