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History · Algoma

Algoma’s post office opened in 1874

Most of Algoma was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1990.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Michaelswikiusername · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How Algoma began

When was Algoma founded?

1874

The Algoma post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 420 in 19902020 census: 705152 years
Founding year: the first Algoma post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Algoma’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 Algoma are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Algoma’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Algoma’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

Algoma, in brief

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

Algoma is a town in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. The population was 705 at the 2020 census, up from 590 at the 2010 census. Algoma is a Native American word meaning "vale of flowers".

Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 590 to 705 (+19%).

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

Timeline

Algoma, 1874 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Algoma post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1923Born hereLeroy Foster is born here
  5. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Algoma, decade by decade

Today2 recent
AlgomaMS2009AlgomaMSMSMap-doton-Algoma2007MSMap-doton-Algoma
On the map

Algoma on the map, 1972 to 1984

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

Algoma on the 1972 USGS mapAlgoma on the 1984 USGS map1972Southwest Pontotoc sheet · 1:24,000

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

People over time

Algoma, census by census

010020030040050060070020002020Peak: 705

Between 420 and 705 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Algoma’s post office has been open since 1874.

Gone or out of use
Old Algomalocale

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

Questions about Algoma’s history

What year was Algoma founded?

The Algoma post office opened in 1874, 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 →
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.