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History · Chatham

Chatham’s post office opened in 1908, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Chatham was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Its Register listing is the Wilder House.

1908first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Chatham began

When was Chatham founded?

1908

The Chatham post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Avard (1905), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 491118 years
Founding year: the first Chatham post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Chatham’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 Chatham are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chatham’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chatham’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
The story so far

Chatham, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Chatham yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Chatham is a town in Jackson Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 491 in 2020. It is part of the Ruston micropolitan statistical area. Southwest of Chatham is Caney Lake and the Jimmie Davis State Park.

Its first post office opened in 1908. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 557 to 491 (-12%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Chatham, 1905 to 1910

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1905Post officeThe Avard post office opens
  3. 1908Post officeThe Avard post office closes
  4. 1908Post officeThe Chatham post office opens
  5. 1910Born hereJames McCormack is born here
By decade

Chatham, decade by decade

Today1 recent
LAMap-doton-Chatham2004LAMap-doton-Chatham
On the National Register

1 historic place in Chatham

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
1983
Wilder House
Wilder House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
Wilder HouseQueen Anne

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Chatham’s post office has been open since 1908. Another post office, Avard, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Avard
1905–1908
Chatham
1908–today
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Henderson Jasper Elementary Schoolschool

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

Questions about Chatham’s history

What year was Chatham founded?

The Chatham post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Chatham?

One place: the Wilder House (listed 1983).

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 (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.