Most of Drew was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1900.
Founding year: the first Drew post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Drew’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Drew is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Drew’s overall grade.
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 Drew’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 C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 points). 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 Drew’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
When the Yellow Dog Railroad was extended through what is now Drew, the post office was moved from the Promised Land Plantation to the Drew location. The settlement and the post office were named for Miss Drew Daniel, daughter of Andrew Jackson Daniel.
A school called the Little Red Schoolhouse was built by matching funds from the Rosenwald Fund in 1928. In the 21st century it received a grant for renovation of the large school.
In the 1920s, a man named Joe Pullen was lynched near Drew after killing at least three members and wounding other members of a posse seeking him after he shot and killed another man.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Drew post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Drew rank for history?
Drew is more historic than 23% 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 Drew?
8% of Drew’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 Wikimedia Commons (7), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, 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.
1937
1937
Date?
2024
2017
2014
2014
2009
2009
