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History · Rutledge

Rutledge’s post office opened in 1888, and 52% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Rutledge School. Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1900.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
52%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Wallace Parry · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Rutledge began

When was Rutledge founded?

1888

The Rutledge post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 292 in 19002020 census: 86138 years
Founding year: the first Rutledge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rutledge’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 Rutledge are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Rutledge’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 418 in 1910; 86 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19033 editions of the USGS map, 1903 to 1981. Watch Rutledge change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rutledge’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rutledge’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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The story so far

Rutledge, in brief

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

Rutledge is a village in Scotland County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 86. The surrounding area is also the home to three intentional communities: Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, a growing ecovillage on 280 acres (1.1 km2) of rolling land, Sandhill Farm in unincorporated Sand Hill, Missouri, and Red Earth Farms. A post office called Rutledge has been in operation since 1888. The community has the name of one Mr. Rutledge, a land agent.

Its first post office opened in 1888. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 109 to 86 (-21%).

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

People over time

Rutledge, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 418

Peaked at 418 in 1910; 86 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Timeline

Rutledge, 1888 to 1910

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Rutledge post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1903On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 418
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

Rutledge on the map, 1903 to 1981

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

Rutledge on the 1903 USGS mapRutledge on the 1965 USGS mapRutledge on the 1981 USGS map1903Edina sheet · 1:125,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Rutledge

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2017
Rutledge School
Rutledge School
Buildings
All 1 listings
Rutledge SchoolBuilding · listed 2017

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

Questions about Rutledge’s history

What year was Rutledge founded?

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

What is on the National Register in Rutledge?

One place: the Rutledge School (listed 2017).

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 National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.