Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Mound City

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Mound City

Mound City’s post office opened in 1856, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Mound City National Cemetery. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1931 on, and the census since 1860.

1856first post office
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Mound City’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Mound City began

When was Mound City founded?

1856

The Mound City post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1857.

First census: 898 in 18602020 census: 526170 years
Founding year: the first Mound City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1857.The full story ↓

What stands out about Mound City’s past

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

Boom and bustPeaked at 2,837 in 1910; 526 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · People over time

Mound City, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,000190019502000Peak: 2,837

Peaked at 2,837 in 1910; 526 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

The story

How Mound City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mound City.

Read it all →

Mound City was incorporated in 1857 as a union of two cities: Mound City, founded by Major General Moses Marshal Rawlings, and Emporium City, a project of the Emporium Real Estate and Manufacturing Company, a group of Cincinnati and Cairo businessmen. The city took its name from a Native American mound on which guests at General Rawlings' hotel would sleep in summer, as the breezes cooled them and dispersed the mosquitoes.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Mound City, 1856 to 1931

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Mound City post office opens
  3. 1862In the archiveMississippi squadron
  4. 1865Born hereCharlie Hoover is born here
  5. 1870Born hereKatherine D. Tillman is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 2,837
  8. 1931On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Mound City, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s5 items
Mississippi squadron1862Mississippi squadronUSS Daisy 559731862USS Daisy 55973Mississippi Squadron Gunboats1863Mississippi Squadron GunboatsNaval Fleet1863Naval FleetOhio River between Mound City and Cairo1864Ohio River between Mound City and Cairo
Today8 recent
Grave of Albert N. Pendelton, Bowditch Cemetery, Searsport, Maine2017Grave of Albert N. Pendelton, Bowditch Cemetery, Sear…Wall Manor, Mound City2016Wall Manor, Mound CityPulaski County Courthouse, Mound City2016Pulaski County Courthouse, Mound CityUntitled photo2016Untitled photoMound City FBC2016Mound City FBCUSS Tensas2015USS TensasLC-DIG-PPMSCA-340372015LC-DIG-PPMSCA-34037Mound City grain elevator and rail yard2013Mound City grain elevator and rail yard
On the map

Mound City on the map, 1931 to 1993

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

Mound City on the 1931 USGS mapMound City on the 1954 USGS mapMound City on the 1967 USGS mapMound City on the 1978 USGS mapMound City on the 1993 USGS map1931Cairo 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 Mound City.

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.

Mississippi squadron
Retake this viewMississippi squadron, 1862

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Mound City

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1997
Mound City National Cemetery
Mound City National Cemetery
Sites

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian1
Queen Anne1
Mound City National CemeteryLate Victorian

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Mound City

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Katherine D. TillmanAmerican writer · b. 1870
Charlie HooverAmerican baseball player · b. 1865
Help out

Finish Mound City’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMississippi squadron: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Mound City’s history

What year was Mound City founded?

The Mound City post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1857.

What is on the National Register in Mound City?

One place: the Mound City National Cemetery (listed 1997).

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 (13), the National Register of Historic Places (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.