Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Old Appleton

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 · Old Appleton

Old Appleton’s post office opened in 1917, and 83% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Old Appleton Bridge. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1925 on, and the census since 1880.

1917first post office
1on the National Register
83%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Old Appleton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Old Appleton began, and where its name came from

When was Old Appleton founded?

1917

The Old Appleton post office opened in 1917, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Appleton (1856), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 100 in 18802020 census: 73109 years

How did Old Appleton get its name?

The community of Old Appleton was originally known as Apple Creek, named after the stream Apple Creek on which the village is located.

Founding year: the first Old Appleton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Old Appleton’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Old Appleton’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 120 in 1950; 73 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19253 editions of the USGS map, 1925 to 1978. Watch Old Appleton change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Old Appleton’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo3 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewApple Creek Mill, Appleton, Cape Girard…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Old Appleton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Old Appleton.

Read it all →

Although it is not known who the original native inhabitants were of the Old Appleton area, the area eventually become home to the Shawnee and Delaware Indians. Having originated in present-day Delaware and Pennsylvania, the Shawnee and Delaware Indians had been pushed off their lands by white settlement. In the 1780s, Pierre Louis Lorimier, a French Canadian who had worked as an Indian-interpreter for the British, found it in his best interest to leave the American states. He settled Cape Girardeau in the Ste. Genevieve District with his wife, who was of mixed French and Shawnee ancestry. Lorimier was subsequently made the Indian Agent by the Spanish colonial authorities. Like Lorimier, the Shawnee and Delaware Indians had sided with the British, and found themselves in an unsavory situation. Lorimier appealed for land grants from the Spanish authorities for the settlement of Shawnee a…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Old Appleton, census by census

010018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 120

Peaked at 120 in 1950; 73 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

Old Appleton, 1856 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Appleton post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1917Post officeThe Appleton post office closes
  5. 1917Post officeThe Old Appleton post office opens
  6. 1925On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 120
By decade

Old Appleton, decade by decade

Date unknown3 to date
Apple Creek Mill, Appleton, Cape Girardeau County, MODate?Apple Creek Mill, Appleton, Cape Girardeau County, MOShoultz-Mclane House, Appleton, Cape Girardeau County, MODate?Shoultz-Mclane House, Appleton, Cape Girardeau County…Alfred McClain House, Appleton, Cape Girardeau County, MODate?Alfred McClain House, Appleton, Cape Girardeau County…
On the map

Old Appleton on the map, 1925 to 1978

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

Old Appleton on the 1925 USGS mapOld Appleton on the 1947 USGS mapOld Appleton on the 1978 USGS map1925Altenburg 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 Old Appleton.

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.

Apple Creek Mill, Appleton, Cape Girardeau County, MO
Retake this viewApple Creek Mill, Appleton, Cape Girardeau County, MO

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Old Appleton

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2009
Old Appleton Bridge
Structures

Architectural styles listings

Pratt Truss Iron Bridge1
Old Appleton BridgePratt Truss Iron Bridge

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Old Appleton

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

See all →
Rush LimbaughAmerican political commentator · b. 1951
Linda M. GodwinAmerican astronaut · b. 1952
Roy ThomasAmerican comic book writer and editor · b. 1940
Terry JonesAmerican anti-Islamic right wing activist and t… · b. 1951
B
Billy SwanAmerican musician and songwriter · b. 1942
Chic HechtAmerican politician · b. 1928
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Old Appleton’s post office has been open since 1917. Another post office, Appleton, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Appleton
1856–1917
Old Appleton
1917–today
18501940today

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

Questions about Old Appleton’s history

What year was Old Appleton founded?

The Old Appleton post office opened in 1917, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Old Appleton?

One place: the Old Appleton Bridge (listed 2009).

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 the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.