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History · Lauderdale

Lauderdale’s post office opened in 1894, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1962 on.

1894first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Dofftoubab · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Lauderdale began

When was Lauderdale founded?

1894

The Lauderdale post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Springs Depot (1856) and Lauderdale Station (1859), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 395132 years
Founding year: the first Lauderdale post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Lauderdale’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 Lauderdale are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lauderdale.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lauderdale’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Lauderdale’s post office has been open since 1894. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Springs Depot
1856–1859
Lauderdale Station
1859–1894
Lauderdale
1894–today
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Davis Milllocale

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

The story

How Lauderdale came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lauderdale.

Read it all →

Lauderdale was first inhabited by Native Americans. The first recorded Native Americans in the area were the Choctaw, who had a village named Panti on Ponta Creek near the present site of Lauderdale. In 1800, Samuel Dale guided some of the first European settlers to the area, including James Lauderdale. Lauderdale was originally from Tennessee but settled at the mineral springs in the area and named them Lauderdale Springs. During the War of 1812, Lauderdale served under Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Talladega and was killed at the Battle of New Orleans.

ChaptersEarly historyCivil WarPost-Civil War20th century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lauderdale, 1856 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1856Post officeThe Springs Depot post office opens
  3. 1859Post officeThe Springs Depot post office closes
  4. 1859Post officeThe Lauderdale Station post office opens
  5. 1894Post officeThe Lauderdale Station post office closes
  6. 1894Post officeThe Lauderdale post office opens
  7. 20th century
  8. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Lauderdale, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Lauderdale, Mississippi Post Office2023Lauderdale, Mississippi Post OfficeLauderdale Springs Confederate-Union Cemetery2023Lauderdale Springs Confederate-Union CemeteryLauderdale Springs Confederate-Union Cemetery informational sign2023Lauderdale Springs Confederate-Union Cemetery informa…Lauderdale Springs Cemetery2023Lauderdale Springs CemeteryLauderdale Presbyterian Church2023Lauderdale Presbyterian ChurchFormer Lauderdale Methodist Church2023Former Lauderdale Methodist Church
On the map

Lauderdale on the map, 1962 to 1982

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

Lauderdale on the 1962 USGS mapLauderdale on the 1982 USGS map1962Lauderdale 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 Lauderdale.

Questions about Lauderdale’s history

What year was Lauderdale founded?

The Lauderdale post office opened in 1894, 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 (6), 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.