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History · Rio

Rio’s post office opened in 1907

Below: maps from 1942 on.

1907first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Rio began

When was Rio founded?

1907

The Rio post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Palestine (1840), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 137119 years
Founding year: the first Rio post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Rio’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rio’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

Rio, in brief

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

Rio is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 137. Rio is located at the junction of Louisiana highways 1074 and 1075, 7.2 miles (11.6 km) south-southwest of Bogalusa.

Its first post office opened in 1907.

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

Timeline

Rio, 1840 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1840Post officeThe Palestine post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1907Post officeThe Palestine post office closes
  5. 1907Post officeThe Rio post office opens
  6. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1954Post officeThe Rio post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Rio on the map, 1942 to 1983

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

Rio on the 1942 USGS mapRio on the 1961 USGS mapRio on the 1976 USGS mapRio on the 1983 USGS map1942Rio 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 Rio.

Famous people

Famous people close to Rio

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

See all →
I
Ian SomerhalderAmerican actor · b. 1978
R
Ruby BridgesAmerican civil rights activist · b. 1954
Cailey FlemingAmerican actress · b. 2007
Professor LonghairAfrican-American blues musician · b. 1918
Y
Yusef KomunyakaaAmerican poet and academic · b. 1947
J
Jonathan BenderAmerican basketball player · b. 1981
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Rio had its own post office from 1907 to 1954. Another post office, Palestine, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Palestine
1840–1907
Rio
1907–1954
18401930today
Gone or out of use
Rio Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Rio
Otzenberger

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

Questions about Rio’s history

What year was Rio founded?

The Rio post office opened in 1907, 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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.