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History · Ellsinore

Ellsinore’s post office opened in 1868

Most of Ellsinore was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1940 on, and the census since 1930.

1868first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Ellsinore’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Ellsinore began

When was Ellsinore founded?

1868

The Ellsinore post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1888.

First census: 238 in 19302020 census: 416158 years
Founding year: the first Ellsinore post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1888.The full story ↓

What stands out about Ellsinore’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ellsinore’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ellsinore’s history is told.

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

How Ellsinore came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ellsinore.

Read it all →

The site of the town of Ellsinore was originally patented on April 15, 1857, by Robert Patterson just two years before Carter County was organized. The land was later sold to a Mr. Cook, who in October 1876, sold the land to Charles Hearin. Charles Hearin cleared the land and raised corn and pumpkins on it. In 1888 Charles Hearin gave the Houck Railroad a right of way across his land, laid out the town, and built a railroad depot on the south side of the creek.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ellsinore, 1868 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1868Post officeThe Ellsinore post office opens
  3. 1897Born hereA. S. J. Carnahan is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1979In the archiveAir conditioned cabins
By decade

Ellsinore, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s1 item
Air conditioned cabins1979Air conditioned cabins
1980s–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
Today4 recent
Ellsinore-water-tower-mo2021Ellsinore-water-tower-moEllsinore-from-school-mo2021Ellsinore-from-school-moEllsinore-Fire-Department-mo2021Ellsinore-Fire-Department-moEllsinore-City-Hall-mo2021Ellsinore-City-Hall-mo
On the map

Ellsinore on the map in 1940

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

Ellsinore on the 1940 USGS map1940Williamsville 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 Ellsinore.

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.

Air conditioned cabins
Retake this viewAir conditioned cabins, 1979

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Ellsinore, census by census

010020030040019401960198020002020Peak: 446

Between 238 and 446 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Questions about Ellsinore’s history

What year was Ellsinore founded?

The Ellsinore post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1888.

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 (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.