Ripley’s post office opened in 1836, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #29 of 100 in Mississippi. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 217 buildings. Most of Ripley was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first Ripley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Ripley’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ripley is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #29 of 100 in Mississippi. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ripley’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 Ripley’s 405 sits above most of its state (86% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 218 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size. 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 Ripley’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1860 and 1870, then grew more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ripley’s Wikipedia page.
The story so far
Ripley, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ripley yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ripley is a city in Tippah County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, Ripley had a population of 5,462. It is the county seat of Tippah County. Colonel William Clark Falkner, great-grandfather of authors William Faulkner and John Faulkner, was a prominent resident of Ripley in the mid to late-19th century. W.C. Falkner's exploits in and around Ripley served as the model for Faulkner's character of Colonel John Sartoris. Ripley is located in the Hills region of North Mississippi, an important region for the birth of American music. The area is known as the birthplace of the hill country blues.
Its first post office opened in 1836. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 5,395 in 2010, 5,462 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Ripley, 1836 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Line Street High SchoolschoolRipley Cumberland Presbyterian ChurchchurchRipley Male and Female Academyschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Ripley
GreenRipleyTippah Memorial Gardens
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Ripley’s history
What year was Ripley founded?
The Ripley post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ripley rank for history?
Ripley is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #29 of 100 in Mississippi. 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.
What is on the National Register in Ripley?
Two places: the US Post Office, Old-Ripley (listed 2000) and the Ripley Historic District (2005).
How old are the homes in Ripley?
2% of Ripley’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 (5), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
1938
2014
2008
2008
