Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Taylorsville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B−History
History · Taylorsville

Taylorsville’s post office opened in 1849, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Taylorsville was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Its Register listing is the Taylorsville Signal Office and Watkins General Store. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1975 on, and the census since 1910.

1849first post office
1on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Taylorsville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Taylorsville began

When was Taylorsville founded?

1849

The Taylorsville post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 623 in 19102020 census: 1,148177 years

How historic is Taylorsville?

B−

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Taylorsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Taylorsville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Taylorsville is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Taylorsville’s overall grade.
Founding era1849, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19404.3% of homes (±4.7) · typical MS town 4.5% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register1 listing, 6.1 per 10,000 residents · typical MS town 71.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 53%
NewerOlder

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 Taylorsville’s 6.1 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Mississippi towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). 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 Taylorsville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1849: 177 years of Taylorsville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Taylorsville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewNegro cabin, showing grass and mud chim…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Taylorsville, 1849 to 1982

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Taylorsville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1917Born herePrentiss Walker is born here
  5. 1939In the archiveNegro cabin, showing grass and mud chimney and broom made of corn husks for sweeping yard…
  6. 1973Born hereMarcus Keyes is born here
  7. 1975On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1979Born hereNic Lott is born here
  9. 1982Born hereTim Duckworth is born here
The story

How Taylorsville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Taylorsville.

Read it all →

Taylorsville was established on the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad in 1900. The site was selected by an employee of the railroad, and soon after a post office was built. The post office was originally located about five miles away in Old Taylorsville (now a community located off of Mississippi Highway 531), but was later moved to New Taylorsville. It was the moving of the post office to New Taylorsville that established the present location of the town.

ChaptersSuspected Lynching of Rasheem Carter

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Taylorsville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s2 items
Negro cabin, showing grass and mud chimney and broom made of corn husks for sweeping yard. Taylorsville, Mississippi1939Negro cabin, showing grass and mud chimney and broom …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Negro cabin, showing grass and mud chimney and broom made of corn husks for sweepi…1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Negro cabin, sho…
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
20161031 221108037 iOS201620161031 221108037 iOS20161031 221105469 iOS201620161031 221105469 iOS20161031 220650782 iOS201620161031 220650782 iOS
On the map

Taylorsville on the map, 1975 to 1994

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

Taylorsville on the 1975 USGS mapTaylorsville on the 1984 USGS mapTaylorsville on the 1994 USGS map1975Taylorsville 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 Taylorsville.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Negro cabin, showing grass and mud chimney and broom made of corn husks for sweeping yard. Taylorsville, Mississippi
Retake this viewNegro cabin, showing grass and mud chimney and broom made of corn husks for sweeping yard. Taylorsville, Mississippi, 1939

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Taylorsville’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Taylorsville

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
1986
Taylorsville Signal Office and Watkins General …
Taylorsville Signal Office and Watkins General Store
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
All 1 listings
Taylorsville Signal Office and Watkins General StoreBuilding · listed 1986

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

People over time

Taylorsville, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,400192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,412

Between 601 and 1,412 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Taylorsville

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

See all →
Prentiss WalkerMississippi farmer and congressman · b. 1917
T
Tim DuckworthPlayer of American football · b. 1982
M
Marcus KeyesAmerican football player · b. 1973
N
Nic LottAmerican politician; first African-American stu… · b. 1979

Questions about Taylorsville’s history

What year was Taylorsville founded?

The Taylorsville post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Taylorsville rank for history?

Taylorsville is more historic than 53% 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.

What is on the National Register in Taylorsville?

One place: the Taylorsville Signal Office and Watkins General Store (listed 1986).

How old are the homes in Taylorsville?

4% of Taylorsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 1975.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.