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History · Tula

Tula’s post office opened in 1889, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1972 on.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Tula began

When was Tula founded?

1889

The Tula post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 197137 years
Founding year: the first Tula post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Tula’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 Tula are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tula’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Tula came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tula.

Read it all →

Tula was the location of the Tula Normal Institute and Business College.

It was once believed that Tula was a site of petroleum deposits. Two experimental oil wells existed in 1962, but like many wells in the Lafayette County area they were abandoned before significant investments were made. There were many oil prospects in northern Mississippi which quickly ran dry, causing a large majority of investors to view the Tula wells with caution.

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.

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On the map

Tula on the map, 1972 to 1990

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

Tula on the 1972 USGS mapTula on the 1984 USGS mapTula on the 1990 USGS map1972Tula 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 Tula.

Famous people

Famous people close to Tula

Nobody well known was born in Tula itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
William FaulknerAmerican writer · b. 1897
Roger WickerAmerican lawyer and politician · b. 1951
Thad CochranUnited States Senator from Mississippi · b. 1937
Glenn HardinAthletics competitor · b. 1910
Bukka WhiteAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1909
Lorenzen WrightAmerican basketball player · b. 1975

Questions about Tula’s history

What year was Tula founded?

The Tula post office opened in 1889, 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 →
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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, 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.