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History · Dry Prong

Dry Prong’s post office opened in 1902

Most of Dry Prong was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 1950.

1902first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Dry Prong began

When was Dry Prong founded?

1902

The Dry Prong post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1945. Another post office, Cononburg (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 377 in 19502020 census: 455124 years
Founding year: the first Dry Prong post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1945.The full story ↓

What stands out about Dry Prong’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 Dry Prong are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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Start Dry Prong’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dry Prong’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 Dry Prong came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dry Prong.

Read it all →

According to tradition, the village received its name when a family moved to the region in the 1870s to build a sawmill. To power the mill, they built a water wheel, only to discover that the creek over which they had built it went dry every summer: the creek was a "dry prong". The mill was soon rebuilt over a nearby creek which flowed all year, but the name stuck. The creek is now outside the city limits, on Highway 123. Shane Davis is the current mayor of the village.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dry Prong, 1880 to 1932

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Cononburg post office opens
  3. 1894Post officeThe Cononburg post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Dry Prong post office opens
  6. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Dry Prong, decade by decade

Today1 recent
LAMap-doton-Dry Prong2004LAMap-doton-Dry Prong
On the map

Dry Prong on the map, 1932 to 2003

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

Dry Prong on the 1932 USGS mapDry Prong on the 1956 USGS mapDry Prong on the 1985 USGS mapDry Prong on the 2003 USGS map1932Colfax SE sheet · 1:31,680

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

People over time

Dry Prong, census by census

01002003004005001960198020002020Peak: 526

Between 352 and 526 people in every census since 1950.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Dry Prong

Nobody well known was born in Dry Prong itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Huey LongAmerican politician, Governor of Louisiana, and… · b. 1893
Rashard LewisAmerican basketball player · b. 1979
Faith FordAmerican actress · b. 1964
Muse WatsonAmerican actor · b. 1948
Justin GastonAmerican actor, model, and singer · b. 1988
Markel BrownAmerican basketball player · b. 1992
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Dry Prong’s post office has been open since 1902. Another post office, Cononburg, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cononburg
1880–1894
Dry Prong
1902–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Dry Prong’s history

What year was Dry Prong founded?

The Dry Prong post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1945.

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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.