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History · Red Banks

Red Banks’ post office opened in 1847, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Old Philadelphia Church. Below: maps from 1948 on.

1847first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Red Banks began

When was Red Banks founded?

1847

The Red Banks post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 215179 years
Founding year: the first Red Banks post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Red Banks’ 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 Red Banks are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1847: 179 years of Red Banks.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Red Banks’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Red Banks’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
Timeline

Red Banks, 1847 to 1948

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847Post officeThe Red Banks post office opens
  3. 1876Born hereFrank Chambless Rand is born here
  4. 1883Born hereGus Cannon is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Red Banks came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Red Banks.

Read it all →

The name of the community is derived from the color of the banks of the creek which flows past the south side of the settlement. In 1900, the community had a population of 79, two churches and a cotton gin.

Red Banks is located on the BNSF Railway and was incorporated on March 14, 1899. Its post office first began operating in 1847.

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

Red Banks on the map, 1948 to 1971

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

Red Banks on the 1948 USGS mapRed Banks on the 1971 USGS map1948Byhalia sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Red Banks.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Red Banks

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
2021
Old Philadelphia Church
All 1 listings
Old Philadelphia ChurchBuilding · listed 2021

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Red Banks

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

See all →
Gus CannonAmerican blues musician · b. 1883
F
Frank Chambless RandAmerican businessman · b. 1876
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Red Banks’s post office has been open since 1847.

Gone or out of use
Pleasant Grove Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Red Banks
Pleasant GroveRed Banks

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

Questions about Red Banks’ history

What year was Red Banks founded?

The Red Banks post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Red Banks?

One place: the Old Philadelphia Church (listed 2021).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.