The story
Read it all →How St. Thomas came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of St. Thomas.
A post office called Saint Thomas has been in operation since 1855. The city was named after Thomas the Apostle.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · St. Thomas
St. Thomas’ post office opened in 1855, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1880.
1855first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How St. Thomas began
When was St. Thomas founded?
1855
The St. Thomas post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 110 in 18802020 census: 222171 years
Founding year: the first St. Thomas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about St. Thomas’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start St. Thomas’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Thomas’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
St. Thomas, census by census
Peaked at 337 in 1980; 220 people lived here in 2020.
7 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Thomas’ Wikipedia page.
Timeline
St. Thomas, 1855 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1855Post officeThe Saint Thomas post office opens
- 20th century
- 1948
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 337
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.
Add from your albumOn the map
St. Thomas on the map, 1948 to 1987
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Thomas. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1948Meta sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Thomas.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to St. Thomas
Nobody well known was born in St. Thomas itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
C
Charlie WeberAmerican actor · b. 1978
Places that used to be
Old corners
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Thomas
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about St. Thomas’ history
What year was St. Thomas founded?
The St. Thomas post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.