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Dr. Robert L. and Sarah Alberta Smith HouseDr. Robert L. and Sarah Alberta Smith House · Photo: Timkemp · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Sharpsburg

Sharpsburg’s post office opened in 1870, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1880.

1870first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Sharpsburg began

When was Sharpsburg founded?

1870

The Sharpsburg post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 110 in 18802020 census: 327156 years
Founding year: the first Sharpsburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sharpsburg’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 Sharpsburg are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1890 and 1940, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sharpsburg’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sharpsburg’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

Sharpsburg, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020177 in 1890Low: 114

Lost a third of its people between 1890 and 1940, then more than doubled.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Sharpsburg came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sharpsburg.

Read it all →

The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Sharpsburg as a town in 1871. The community was named after Judge Elias Sharp, a local city commissioner.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sharpsburg, 1870 to 2010

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Sharpsburg post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1993Born hereBrooke Hendrix is born here
  6. 21st century
  7. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 341
By decade

Sharpsburg, decade by decade

Today1 recent
GAMap-doton-Sharpsburg2005GAMap-doton-Sharpsburg
On the map

Sharpsburg on the map, 1965 to 1982

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

Sharpsburg on the 1965 USGS mapSharpsburg on the 1979 USGS mapSharpsburg on the 1982 USGS map1965Sharpsburg 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 Sharpsburg.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

TurinIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sharpsburg’s history

What year was Sharpsburg founded?

The Sharpsburg post office opened in 1870, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.