Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Rodessa

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 · Rodessa

Rodessa’s post office opened in 1896

Most of Rodessa was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1917 on and the census since 1970.

1896first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rodessa’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rodessa began

When was Rodessa founded?

1896

The Rodessa post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 273 in 19702020 census: 192130 years
Founding year: the first Rodessa post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Rodessa’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Boom and bustPeaked at 337 in 1980; 192 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · People over time

Rodessa, census by census

0100200300198020002020Peak: 337

Peaked at 337 in 1980; 192 people lived here in 2020.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

The story

How Rodessa came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rodessa.

Read it all →

Very little is known on the early days of the settlement as it is believed that Rodessa began as a trading post in the mid-1800s. Locals state that the town was originally named Frog Level as during a town meeting frogs were loudly croaking in a nearby pond. A post office was constructed in 1879, however it may have been in place earlier. By 1898 the Kansas City Southern Railway was built through the area which spurred an increase in population. Rodessa was incorporated as a village in the same year.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rodessa, 1896 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Rodessa post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1917In the archiveLouisiana
  5. 1938In the archiveRodessa, Louisiana Tornado 1938
  6. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 337
By decade

Rodessa, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s6 items
Louisiana1917LouisianaLouisiana1917LouisianaLouisiana1917LouisianaLouisiana1917LouisianaRodessa, Louisiana Tornado 19381938Rodessa, Louisiana Tornado 1938Rodessa, Louisiana tornado damages1938Rodessa, Louisiana tornado damages
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Louisiana
Retake this viewLouisiana, 1917

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rodessa’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Rodessa’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLouisiana: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Rodessa’s history

What year was Rodessa founded?

The Rodessa post office opened in 1896, 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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, 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.