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History · Oconee

Oconee’s post office opened in 1842, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1970.

1842first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Oconee began

When was Oconee founded?

1842

The Oconee post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Gardners (1926), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 262 in 19702020 census: 197184 years
Founding year: the first Oconee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Oconee’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 Oconee are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 306 in 1980; 197 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1842: 184 years of Oconee.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Oconee’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Oconee, census by census

0100200300198020002020Peak: 306

Peaked at 306 in 1980; 197 people lived here in 2020.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

Timeline

Oconee, 1842 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1842Post officeThe Oconee post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1922Born hereAnna Gordy Gaye is born here
  5. 1926Post officeThe Gardners post office opens
  6. 1951Post officeThe Gardners post office closes
  7. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 306
The story

How Oconee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Oconee.

Read it all →

The city's name derives from the Oconee, a Hitchiti-speaking tribe who inhabited central Georgia from 1692 until 1715. The Oconee lived in present-day Baldwin County, Georgia at a settlement known as Oconee Old Town, later moving to the Chattahoochee River in the early 18th century. The name exists in several variations, including Ocone, Oconi, Ocony, and Ekwoni.

The city of Oconee was named after the river that bears the tribe's name. It was founded in the early 1840s, when the railroad was extended to that point.

The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Oconee as a town in 1876.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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

Oconee on the map, 1962 to 1981

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

Oconee on the 1962 USGS mapOconee on the 1981 USGS map1962Oconee 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 Oconee.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Oconee’s post office has been open since 1842. Another post office, Gardners, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Oconee
1842–today
Gardners
1926–1951
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Gardner

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

Questions about Oconee’s history

What year was Oconee founded?

The Oconee post office opened in 1842, 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 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.