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History · Joppa

Joppa’s post office opened in 1874, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1928 on, and the census since 1910.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Joppa’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Joppa began

When was Joppa founded?

1874

The Joppa post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 734 in 19102020 census: 350152 years
Founding year: the first Joppa post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Joppa’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Joppa’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Joppa’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewJoppa Steam Plant on Ohio River (NBY 42…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Joppa came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Joppa.

Read it all →

During the first part of the 19th century, a riverboat landing known as Copeland's Landing operated at what is now Joppa. In the early 1870s, A.J. Kuykendall, a prominent local land owner, and Jesse Baccus, who operated a local sawmill, decided to establish a town. They named the town after the Biblical city of Joppa (in modern Israel). After the arrival of the railroad in 1900, the village thrived for several years as a river-to-rail transloading station. Joppa incorporated in 1901. Joppa has since lost a lot of population and stores, now only having a school and a few hundred people living there.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Joppa, 1874 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Joppa post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1928On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1958In the archiveJoppa Steam Plant on Ohio River (NBY 428944)
By decade

Joppa, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s1 item
Joppa Steam Plant on Ohio River (NBY 428944)1958Joppa Steam Plant on Ohio River (NBY 428944)
1960s–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
Today10 recent
Kelly-Rae-Erickson-Joppa-il2017Kelly-Rae-Erickson-Joppa-ilJoppa-welcome-sign-il2017Joppa-welcome-sign-ilJoppa-water-tower-il2017Joppa-water-tower-ilJoppa-post-office-il2017Joppa-post-office-ilJoppa-from-East-il2017Joppa-from-East-ilJoppa-Ohio-River-barges-il2017Joppa-Ohio-River-barges-ilJoppa-North-and-Church-il2017Joppa-North-and-Church-ilJoppa-North-Ave-il2017Joppa-North-Ave-ilJoppa-Living-Waters-church-il2017Joppa-Living-Waters-church-ilCgs052292013Cgs05229
On the map

Joppa on the map, 1928 to 1982

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

Joppa on the 1928 USGS mapJoppa on the 1932 USGS mapJoppa on the 1954 USGS mapJoppa on the 1967 USGS mapJoppa on the 1982 USGS map1928La Center sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Joppa.

Then & 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.

Joppa Steam Plant on Ohio River (NBY 428944)
Retake this viewJoppa Steam Plant on Ohio River (NBY 428944), 1958

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Joppa’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Joppa, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020Peak: 734

Between 350 and 734 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about Joppa’s history

What year was Joppa founded?

The Joppa post office opened in 1874, 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 (11), Wikipedia, 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.