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History · Shawneetown

Shawneetown’s post office opened in 1871, and 51% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1925 on.

1871first post office
0on the National Register
51%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Shawneetown began

When was Shawneetown founded?

1871

The Shawneetown post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 132155 years
Founding year: the first Shawneetown post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Shawneetown’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 Shawneetown are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19253 editions of the USGS map, 1925 to 1978. Watch Shawneetown change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Shawneetown’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shawneetown’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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On the map

Shawneetown on the map, 1925 to 1978

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

Shawneetown on the 1925 USGS mapShawneetown on the 1947 USGS mapShawneetown 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 Shawneetown.

The story

How Shawneetown came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Shawneetown.

Read it all →

Shawneetown was site of one of the six Shawnee and Delaware villages along Apple Creek in both Perry and Cape Girardeau counties and Indian Creek. The village was inhabited by Shawnee immigrants from Ohio and Indiana and Delaware immigrants originally from Delaware and New Jersey, but residing with the Shawnee in Ohio and Indiana. The Shawnee and Delaware first immigrated into the area, on request by the Spanish authorities, in 1787, to act as a buffer between the French settlements to the north and the Osage Indians to the south. The French settlers called their village Village Sauvage (French: savage or wild village). The Shawnee and Delaware were forced to give up their Spanish land grants and leave the area in 1825. The vacant land was later resettled by Americans. Shawneetown operated its own post office in the years 1871–1907, and 1913–1946, and is also home to Trinity Lutheran…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Shawneetown, 1871 to 1946

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Shawneetown post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1925On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1946Post officeThe Shawneetown post office closes
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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Famous people

Famous people close to Shawneetown

Nobody well known was born in Shawneetown 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
D
Dale DyeAmerican actor, presenter, and businessman · b. 1944
Terry JonesAmerican anti-Islamic right wing activist and t… · b. 1951
B
Billy SwanAmerican musician and songwriter · b. 1942
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Shawneetown had its own post office from 1871 to 1946.

Shawneetown
1871–1946
18701950today

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

Questions about Shawneetown’s history

What year was Shawneetown founded?

The Shawneetown post office opened in 1871, 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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.