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History · Pocahontas

Pocahontas dates to 1847, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

1847founded
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Pocahontas began

When was Pocahontas founded?

1847

Pocahontas dates its founding to 1847 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1850.

2020 census: 697179 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1850.The full story ↓

What stands out about Pocahontas’ 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 Pocahontas are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsEstablished in 1847: 179 years of Pocahontas.Old housesHalf of Pocahontas’ homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pocahontas’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pocahontas’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
Timeline

Pocahontas, 1847 to 1973

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847
    FoundingPocahontas is established
  3. 1850Post officeThe Pocohontas post office opens
  4. 1855Post officeThe Pocohontas post office closes
  5. 1855Post officeThe Pocahontas post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1973Born hereGretchen Wilson is born here
The story

How Pocahontas came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pocahontas.

Read it all →

Pocahontas was originally known as Hickory Grove and then Amity. In 1850, the name was changed to Pocohontas (with an "o"). In 1855, the current spelling with an "a" came into place. Pocahontas was incorporated as a village in 1847. The town was named after Pocahontas Coal.

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.
Add from your album
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Pocahontas’s post office has been open since 1855. Another post office, Pocohontas, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Pocohontas
1850–1855
Pocahontas
1855–today
18501940today
1cemetery inside Pocahontas
Saint Nicholas

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

Questions about Pocahontas’ history

What year was Pocahontas founded?

In 1847, according to Wikidata. Pocahontas’ post office opened in 1850.

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, 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.