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History · Noxapater

Noxapater’s post office opened in 1846

Most of Noxapater was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1910.

1846first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Noxapater began

When was Noxapater founded?

1846

The Noxapater post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 311 in 19102020 census: 390180 years
Founding year: the first Noxapater post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Noxapater’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 Noxapater are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 615 in 1950; 390 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1846: 180 years of Noxapater.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Noxapater’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Noxapater’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
People over time

Noxapater, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 615

Peaked at 615 in 1950; 390 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Timeline

Noxapater, 1846 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1846Post officeThe Noxapater post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1918Born hereF. Mason Sones is born here
  5. 1946Born hereMary Coleman is born here
  6. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 615
  7. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Noxapater came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Noxapater.

Read it all →

The community takes its name from Noxapater Creek, which flows near the site. A post office was established in 1846, and the town was incorporated in 1906. Noxapater was a stop on the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City Railroad, built in 1890.

In 1927, a mob of 1,000 white men, mostly from Louisville, lynched two African-Americans, Jim and Mark Fox. The Foxes were accused of killing a white man who started a fight with them.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.
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On the map

Noxapater on the map in 1972

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Noxapater.

Noxapater on the 1972 USGS map1972Noxapater 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 Noxapater.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Noxapater

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
F. Mason SonesAmerican physician · b. 1918
M
Mary ColemanAmerican politician · b. 1946

Questions about Noxapater’s history

What year was Noxapater founded?

The Noxapater post office opened in 1846, 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 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.