The story
Read it all →How Cleary came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Cleary.
A post office operated under the name Cleary from 1896 to 1908.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
DHistory
History · Cleary
Cleary’s post office opened in 1896
More historic than 10% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Cleary was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1906 on.
1896first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Cleary began
When was Cleary founded?
1896
The Cleary post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 1,688130 years
How historic is Cleary?
D
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 10% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Cleary post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cleary’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cleary is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cleary’s overall grade.
Founding era1896, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.0% of homes (±1.5) · typical MS town 4.5% · U.S. 8.4%D−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MS town 71.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 10%
NewerOlder
Mississippi towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Mississippi town has 71.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Cleary’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±1.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Cleary’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Cleary’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cleary’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Cleary on the map, 1906 to 1980
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cleary. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1906Florence 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 Cleary.
Timeline
Cleary, 1896 to 1908
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1896Post officeThe Cleary post office opens
- 20th century
- 1906
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1908Post officeThe Cleary 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.
Add from your albumFamous people
See all →Famous people close to Cleary
Nobody well known was born in Cleary itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Cleary had its own post office from 1896 to 1908.
Cleary
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cedar PointCleary Heights
Gone or out of use
Old Union Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Cleary
Cleary
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Cleary’s history
What year was Cleary founded?
The Cleary post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cleary rank for history?
Cleary is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Cleary?
0.0% of Cleary’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1986.
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).
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.