The story
Read it all →How Ailey came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Ailey.
A post office called Ailey was established in 1891. The town incorporated in 1893.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Ailey
Ailey’s post office opened in 1891
Most of Ailey was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1940 on.
1891first post office
0on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Quick answers
How Ailey began
When was Ailey founded?
1891
The Ailey post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 519135 years
Founding year: the first Ailey post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Ailey’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 Ailey’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ailey’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Ailey, 1891 to 1940
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Ailey, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
2016
2016
2016
2016
2005Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewGeorgia [Effingham County (part) - Newton County (part), 1940
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ailey’s page.
Retake this view · +15Famous people
See all →2 famous people were born in Ailey
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Ailey’s history
What year was Ailey founded?
The Ailey post office opened in 1891, 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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.