Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Parks

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 · Parks

17% of Parks’ homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1939 on and the census since 1910.

0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

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

Start Parks’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Parks’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

How Parks came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Parks.

Read it all →

The exact origin of the name "Parks" is somewhat of a mystery. Although some residents seem to think that it had something to do with the railroad, one story states the first train to pass through the community arrived on Easter Sunday. When the train engineer, who apparently did not speak or understand French, inquired about the name of the settlement, the residents replied "C'est Pacques" (it's Easter). The train engineer thought he understood the word Parks, and the name apparently stuck.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Parks, 1899 to 1939

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1899Post officeThe Potier post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1907Post officeThe Potier post office closes
  5. 1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Parks, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Parks Water Tower2016Parks Water Tower
On the map

Parks on the map, 1939 to 1983

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

Parks on the 1939 USGS mapParks on the 1957 USGS mapParks on the 1970 USGS mapParks on the 1983 USGS map1939St Martinsville sheet · 1:62,500

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

People over time

Parks, census by census

0200400600800192019401960198020002020Peak: 766

Between 400 and 766 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Parks

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

See all →
Armand DuplantisSwedish-American pole vaulter · b. 1999
Addison RaeAmerican singer · b. 2000
Danneel AcklesAmerican actress · b. 1979
Dustin PoirierAmerican mixed martial artist · b. 1989
Jeff LandryAmerican politician · b. 1970
Daniel CormierAmerican sport wrestler and mixed martial artist · b. 1979
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Another post office, Potier, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Parks Stationlocale

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

Questions about Parks’ history

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), 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.