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History · French Camp

French Camp’s post office opened in 1848, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Col. James Drane House. Its Register listing is the Col. James Drane House. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1966 on, and the census since 1880.

1848first post office
1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From French Camp’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How French Camp began

When was French Camp founded?

1848

The French Camp post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 420 in 18802020 census: 256178 years
Founding year: the first French Camp post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about French Camp’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1920, then more than doubled.Deep rootsA post office since 1848: 178 years of French Camp.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start French Camp’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how French Camp’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo4 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewFrenchCampAcademy: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

French Camp, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020420 in 1880Low: 123

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1920, then more than doubled.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

French Camp, 1847 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847BuiltCol. James Drane House is built
  3. 1848Post officeThe French Camp post office opens
  4. 1880CensusPopulation peaks at 420
  5. 20th century
  6. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How French Camp came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of French Camp.

Read it all →

The town dates back to circa 1810, when a Frenchman, Louis Lefleur, established a stand or trading post and inn, on the Natchez Trace. The Choctaw natives and others in the area called it the Frenchman's Camp. Later it was shortened to French Camp.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

French Camp, decade by decade

Date unknown4 to date
FrenchCampAcademyDate?FrenchCampAcademyFrenchCampCityHallMSDate?FrenchCampCityHallMSFrenchCampMSESDate?FrenchCampMSESOldFrenchCampPostOfficeMSDate?OldFrenchCampPostOfficeMS
Today3 recent
House in Town2021House in TownMississippi Cabin 22012Mississippi Cabin 2FrenchcamppostofficeMS2010FrenchcamppostofficeMS
On the map

French Camp on the map, 1966 to 1984

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

French Camp on the 1966 USGS mapFrench Camp on the 1984 USGS map1966French Camp 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 French Camp.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

FrenchCampAcademy
Retake this viewFrenchCampAcademy

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on French Camp’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in French Camp

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Col. James Drane House
Col. James Drane House, built 1847
Buildings
All 1 listings
Col. James Drane HouseBuilding · listed 1983

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about French Camp’s history

What year was French Camp founded?

The French Camp post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in French Camp?

One place: the Col. James Drane House (listed 1983).

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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.