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History · Leslie

Leslie’s post office opened in 1901, and 61% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1946 on and the census since 1920.

1901first post office
0on the National Register
61%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Leslie began

When was Leslie founded?

1901

The Leslie post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 162 in 19202020 census: 136125 years
Founding year: the first Leslie post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Leslie’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 Leslie are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Leslie’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Leslie’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Leslie’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

Leslie, in brief

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

Leslie is a village in west central Franklin County, Missouri, United States. The population was about 136 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1901. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 171 to 136 (-20%).

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

Timeline

Leslie, 1901 to 1946

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1901Post officeThe Leslie post office opens
  3. 1926Born hereFrank Saucier is born here
  4. 1946On 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

Leslie on the map, 1946 to 1980

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

Leslie on the 1946 USGS mapLeslie on the 1966 USGS mapLeslie on the 1980 USGS map1946Union 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 Leslie.

People over time

Leslie, census by census

0100192019401960198020002020Peak: 171

Between 81 and 171 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Leslie’s history

What year was Leslie founded?

The Leslie post office opened in 1901, 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 →
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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 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.