History · Vancleave

Vancleave’s post office opened in 1870

More historic than 13% of U.S. towns · #81 of 100 in Mississippi. What drives it

Most of Vancleave was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: maps from 1941 on and the census since 2000.

1870first post office

0on the National Register

0.9%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Quick answers

How Vancleave began

When was Vancleave founded?

1870

The Vancleave post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bluff Creek (1869), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 4,910 in 20002020 census: 5,592156 years

How historic is Vancleave?

More historic than 13% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Vancleave post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

History grade

What drives Vancleave’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Vancleave is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #81 of 100 in Mississippi. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Vancleave’s overall grade.

Founding era1870, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 19400.9% of homes (±1.0) · typical MS town 4.5% · U.S. 8.4%D National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MS town 71.9 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 13%

NewerOlder

Mississippi towns of 2,500+ (100)Ahead of 19%

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 Vancleave’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 still be D. The pre-1940 share (±1.0 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 Vancleave’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 Vancleave are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Vancleave, and 4 old place names are still on the map.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Vancleave’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vancleave’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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Vancleave had its own post office from 1870 to 1927. Another post office, Bluff Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bluff Creek

1869–1870

Vancleave

1870–1927

18601940today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Dees LandingEvergreenMcCall LandingPoticaw Landing

Gone or out of use

Bluff Creek SchoolschoolGalloways StorelocaleLive Oak Pond Schoolschool

2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Vancleave

CarterOld Shiloh

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

The story so far

Vancleave, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Vancleave yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Vancleave is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Vancleave had a population of 5,592.

Its first post office opened in 1870. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 5,886 to 5,592 (-5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Vancleave, 1869 to 1941

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

19th century
1869Post officeThe Bluff Creek post office opens
1870Post officeThe Bluff Creek post office closes
1870Post officeThe Vancleave post office opens
1897Born hereJacob L. Reddix is born here
20th century
1927Post officeThe Vancleave post office closes
1941On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

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.

Add from your album

On the map

Vancleave on the map, 1941 to 1982

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

1941Vancleave 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 Vancleave.

People over time

Vancleave, census by census

Between 4,910 and 5,886 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Gautier3 historic placesC

Questions about Vancleave’s history

What year was Vancleave founded?

The Vancleave post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Vancleave rank for history?

Vancleave is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #81 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.

How old are the homes in Vancleave?

0.9% of Vancleave’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 4.5% for a Mississippi town; the median home was built in 2000.

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).

From 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.

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