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History · Olive Branch

Olive Branch’s post office opened in 1876

Most of Olive Branch was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1934 on.

1876first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Olive Branch began

When was Olive Branch founded?

1876

The Olive Branch post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Clank (1901), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 650150 years
Founding year: the first Olive Branch post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Olive Branch’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 Olive Branch are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Olive Branch’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Olive Branch’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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The story so far

Olive Branch, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Olive Branch yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Olive Branch is a census-designated place in Olive Branch and Sandusky precincts, Alexander County, Illinois, United States. It has a post office with the ZIP code 62969. Its population was 650 at the 2020 census. Olive Branch is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1876. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 864 to 650 (-25%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Olive Branch, 1876 to 1934

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Olive Branch post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Clank post office opens
  5. 1914Post officeThe Clank post office closes
  6. 1934On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

Olive Branch on the map, 1934 to 1996

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

Olive Branch on the 1934 USGS mapOlive Branch on the 1955 USGS mapOlive Branch on the 1967 USGS mapOlive Branch on the 1996 USGS map1934Thebes 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 Olive Branch.

Famous people

Famous people close to Olive Branch

Nobody well known was born in Olive Branch itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Rush LimbaughAmerican political commentator · b. 1951
Linda M. GodwinAmerican astronaut · b. 1952
Kenny RollinsAmerican basketball player · b. 1923
Caroline SmithAmerican diver · b. 1906
D
Dale DyeAmerican actor, presenter, and businessman · b. 1944
Rex IngramAmerican actor (1895/1903–1969) · b. 1895
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Olive Branch’s post office has been open since 1876. Another post office, Clank, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Olive Branch
1876–today
Clank
1901–1914
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Clank
Gone or out of use
Silica Minemine
1cemetery inside Olive Branch
Olive Branch

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

Questions about Olive Branch’s history

What year was Olive Branch founded?

The Olive Branch post office opened in 1876, 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.