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History · Rosiclare

Rosiclare’s post office opened in 1844, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1880.

1844first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
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Photo: David Wilson · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Rosiclare began

When was Rosiclare founded?

1844

The Rosiclare post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 368 in 18802020 census: 980182 years
Founding year: the first Rosiclare post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Rosiclare’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 Rosiclare are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 2,086 in 1950; 980 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19163 editions of the USGS map, 1916 to 1996. Watch Rosiclare change.Deep rootsA post office since 1844: 182 years of Rosiclare.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rosiclare’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rosiclare’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

Rosiclare, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,086

Peaked at 2,086 in 1950; 980 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

On the map

Rosiclare on the map, 1916 to 1996

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

Rosiclare on the 1916 USGS mapRosiclare on the 1954 USGS mapRosiclare on the 1996 USGS map1916Golconda 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 Rosiclare.

The story

How Rosiclare came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rosiclare.

Read it all →

Some of the earliest settlers of the Rosiclare area were outlaws mainly counterfeiters from the Sturdivant Gang in the late 1810s-early 1820s. Rosiclare used to be the "Fluorspar Capital of the World". Andrew Jackson, in 1835, once owned a fluorspar mine in Rosiclare. Wholesale mining of fluorspar first began in Rosiclare in 1842. Mining ceased when it became cheaper to import fluorite from China. The Lead and Fluorspar Mining Company continued to process ore from mines in Hardin County but closed due to foreign competition in 1996.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rosiclare, 1844 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1844Post officeThe Rosiclare post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1916On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 2,086
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.

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Places that used to be

Old corners and places now gone

Rosiclare’s post office has been open since 1844.

Hamlets and corners on the map
FairviewMineral City
Gone or out of use
Alcoa MinemineArgo Shaft Alcoa MinemineBuzzards Roost Shaft Alcoa MinemineDaisy MinemineFairview Shaft Blue Diggings MinemineGood Hope MinemineHillside MinemineLast Chance Shaft Blue Diggings MinemineNew Ghelia Shaft Rosiclare MinemineOzark Mahoning MinemineRecovery Shaft Rosiclare MinemineRosiclare MinemineRosiclare MinemineSouth Boundary Shaft Rosiclare Minemine

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

Questions about Rosiclare’s history

What year was Rosiclare founded?

The Rosiclare post office opened in 1844, 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 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.