Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Wilkinson

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 · Wilkinson

Wilkinson’s post office opened in 1883, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1960 on, and the census since 1920.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Wilkinson’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Wilkinson began

When was Wilkinson founded?

1883

The Wilkinson post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 324 in 19202020 census: 414143 years
Founding year: the first Wilkinson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Wilkinson’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Wilkinson’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wilkinson’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wilkinson’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewShirley-indiana-from-above: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Wilkinson came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wilkinson.

Read it all →

Wilkinson was platted in 1883 by Elnathan and Thomas B. Wilkinson. The Wilkinson post office was established in 1883.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Wilkinson in 1869

Passages that mention Wilkinson, cut from the printed page as they were published.

July 3, I 728. John was in Providence and signed a Power of Attorney with William Hopkins, James Angell, Josiah Wilkinson and David Wilkinson, to Joseph Wilkinson to dispose of the Lands and other property of Samuel Wilkinson who had recently died. A few days after the following deed was given, and…
Memoirs of the Wilkinson family in America1869Read the page →
Read the text

July 3, I 728. John was in Providence and signed a Power of Attorney with William Hopkins, James Angell, Josiah Wilkinson and David Wilkinson, to Joseph Wilkinson to dispose of the Lands and other property of Samuel Wilkinson who had recently died. A few days after the following deed was given, and as it describes the old homestead of the first Samuel, and was the means by which the whereabouts of the Pennsylvania branch of the family was discovered, it is the more readily inserted.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Wilkinson, 1883 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Wilkinson post office opens
  3. 1892Born hereHarvey Weir Cook is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Wilkinson, decade by decade

Date unknown2 to date
Shirley-indiana-from-aboveDate?Shirley-indiana-from-aboveOctagon HouseDate?Octagon House
Today1 recent
Wilkinson, Indiana2016Wilkinson, Indiana
On the map

Wilkinson on the map, 1960 to 1986

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

Wilkinson on the 1960 USGS mapWilkinson on the 1986 USGS map1960Shirley 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 Wilkinson.

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.

Shirley-indiana-from-above
Retake this viewShirley-indiana-from-above

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Wilkinson, census by census

0100200300400500192019401960198020002020Peak: 493

Between 316 and 493 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Wilkinson’s history

What year was Wilkinson founded?

The Wilkinson post office opened in 1883, 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 →
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 (2), the Library of Congress (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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.