Most of Shannon was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Shannon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Shannon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shannon is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Shannon’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 Shannon’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.9 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 Shannon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town is named for Samuel Shannon, who purchased land at that location from Chickasaw Chief Itawamba in the early 1800s, then built a cabin and a farm. More settlers arrived following the Treaty of Pontotoc, which ceding Chickasaw land in exchange for financial compensation.
In the early 1800s, Constantine Shannon brought strawberry plants from Shannon to Plant City, Florida, enabling the creation of a multimillion-dollar industry in Plant City.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Shannon’s history
What year was Shannon founded?
The Shannon post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Shannon rank for history?
Shannon is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Shannon?
3% of Shannon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 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.
