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History · Brooks

Brooks’ post office opened in 1905

Most of Brooks was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1920.

1905first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Brooks began

When was Brooks founded?

1905

The Brooks post office opened in 1905, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Brooks Station (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 256 in 19202020 census: 568121 years
Founding year: the first Brooks post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Brooks’ 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 Brooks are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1920 and 1940, then grew 4-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Brooks’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brooks’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

Brooks, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020256 in 1920Low: 134

Lost half of its people between 1920 and 1940, then grew 4-fold.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Brooks came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brooks.

Read it all →

Before white settlers came to the area, Creek Indians lived in the Brooks area. The first white settlers to reside in the area were the Haisten family. At first the town was called "Haistentown", but after several other names, Brooks became the name of the town in 1905, after a local planter, Hillery Brooks, who contributed greatly to the construction of the railroad and a much needed depot. During the Civil War, the town sent many young men to fight in the Confederate Army. Several of these men were killed during the war.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Brooks, 1871 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Brooks Station post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1905Post officeThe Brooks Station post office closes
  5. 1905Post officeThe Brooks post office opens
  6. 1952Born hereJames B. Smith is born here
  7. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 21st century
  9. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 568
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.
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On the map

Brooks on the map, 1965 to 1982

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

Brooks on the 1965 USGS mapBrooks on the 1979 USGS mapBrooks on the 1982 USGS map1965Brooks 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 Brooks.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Brooks’s post office has been open since 1905. Another post office, Brooks Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Brooks Station
1871–1905
Brooks
1905–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
The Meadows
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brooks
Brooks CityBrooks Memorial GardensWhitewater

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Brooks’ history

What year was Brooks founded?

The Brooks post office opened in 1905, 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 →
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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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.