The story
Read it all →How Collyer came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Collyer.
The first settlement was made at Collyer in 1879. Collyer was named for Rev. Robert Collyer.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Collyer
Collyer’s post office opened in 1878, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listings are the Collyer Downtown Historic District and the St. Michael School & Convent. Below: maps from 1979 on and the census since 1920.
1878first post office
2on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Collyer began
When was Collyer founded?
1878
The Collyer post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 190 in 19202020 census: 97148 years
Founding year: the first Collyer post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Collyer’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Collyer’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Collyer’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Collyer, census by census
Peaked at 282 in 1950; 97 people lived here in 2020.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Collyer’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Collyer, 1878 to 1979
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1878Post officeThe Collyer post office opens
- 20th century
- 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 282
- 1979
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Collyer, decade by decade
2014
2014
2014
2005On the map
Collyer on the map, 1979 to 1985
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Collyer. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1979Collyer sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Collyer.
On the National Register
2 historic places in Collyer
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
12
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
St. Michael School & Convent
Buildings
All 2 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Collyer’s post office has been open since 1878.
Gone or out of use
Collyer Grade Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Collyer
Saint Michael's
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Collyer’s history
What year was Collyer founded?
The Collyer post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Collyer?
Two places: the Collyer Downtown Historic District (listed 2010) and the St. Michael School & Convent (2008).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.