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History · Backus

Backus’ post office opened in 1896, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1910.

1896first post office
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Backus began

When was Backus founded?

1896

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

First census: 184 in 19102020 census: 263130 years
Founding year: the first Backus post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Backus’ 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 Backus are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 367 in 1950; 263 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Backus’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Backus’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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People over time

Backus, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 367

Peaked at 367 in 1950; 263 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Backus came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Backus.

Read it all →

A post office called Backus has been in operation since 1896. The city was named for Edward Wellington Backus, a businessperson in the lumber industry.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Backus, 1896 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1896Post officeThe Backus post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 367
  5. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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On the map

Backus on the map in 1970

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Backus.

Backus on the 1970 USGS map1970Backus sheet · 1:24,000

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Backus’s post office has been open since 1896.

Gone or out of use
Backuslocale

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

Questions about Backus’ history

What year was Backus founded?

The Backus 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 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.