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History · Wallace

Wallace’s post office opened in 1837, and 61% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Wallace Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1910.

1837first post office
1on the National Register
61%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Wallace began

When was Wallace founded?

1837

The Wallace post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 116 in 19102020 census: 79189 years
Founding year: the first Wallace post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Wallace’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 Wallace are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Wallace’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 136 in 1970; 79 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Wallace.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wallace’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wallace’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

How Wallace came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wallace.

Read it all →

Jacksonville, one of Fountain County's early settlements, was established by John Bowman and his father Henry in the early 1830s on land situated just north of Mill Creek and was named for Andrew Jackson. The town's name in informal speech was often shortened to "Jackville". The first settler at the site was Richard Williams who erected a cabin as early as 1826, several years before the town was laid out, with the first house erected after Jacksonville's platting belonging to William Guilliams. By the 1880s, it contained about two dozen houses.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Wallace, census by census

0100192019401960198020002020Peak: 136

Peaked at 136 in 1970; 79 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Timeline

Wallace, 1837 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Wallace post office opens
  3. 1871BuiltWallace Covered Bridge is built
  4. 1888Born hereWinfred Ethestal Wagoner is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 136
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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On the map

Wallace on the map, 1948 to 1961

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

Wallace on the 1948 USGS mapWallace on the 1961 USGS map1948Wallace sheet · 1:24,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Wallace

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2021
Wallace Covered Bridge
Wallace Covered Bridge, built 1871
Structures
Wallace Covered BridgeBuilt 1871

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

Questions about Wallace’s history

What year was Wallace founded?

The Wallace post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Wallace?

One place: the Wallace Covered Bridge (listed 2021).

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 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.