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History · Walnut Grove

Walnut Grove’s post office opened in 1854

Most of Walnut Grove was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1890.

1854first post office
0on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
6famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Walnut Grove began

When was Walnut Grove founded?

1854

The Walnut Grove post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 166 in 18902020 census: 510172 years
Founding year: the first Walnut Grove post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Walnut Grove’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 Walnut Grove are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,911 in 2010; 510 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Walnut Grove’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Walnut Grove’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
People over time

Walnut Grove, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,911

Peaked at 1,911 in 2010; 510 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Walnut Grove came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Walnut Grove.

Read it all →

Walnut Grove began as a European-American settlement in a nearby location, now referred to as "Old Walnut Grove". This area was developed as cotton plantations in the antebellum era. The town was incorporated in 1884. A post office was established in 1854, and in the early 1900s, electricity and street lights were installed.

The Jackson and Eastern Railway was completed from Union, Mississippi to Walnut Grove in 1923, and then extended to nearby Tuscola, Mississippi in 1925.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Walnut Grove, 1854 to 2010

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Walnut Grove post office opens
  3. 1878Born hereHomer H. Casteel is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1939Born hereSue Gunter is born here
  6. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 21st century
  8. 2000Born hereJerrion Ealy is born here
  9. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 1,911
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.
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On the map

Walnut Grove on the map, 1972 to 1994

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

Walnut Grove on the 1972 USGS mapWalnut Grove on the 1984 USGS mapWalnut Grove on the 1994 USGS map1972Walnut Grove 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 Walnut Grove.

Famous people

6 famous people were born in Walnut Grove

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

See all →
Na'Taki Osborne JelksAmerican environmental scientist
S
Sue GunterAmerican basketball coach · b. 1939
Homer H. CasteelAmerican politician · b. 1878
J
Jerrion EalyAmerican football player · b. 2000
M
Mac A. Flemingb. 1945
Thomas Norman BrooksAmerican politician · b. 1924

Questions about Walnut Grove’s history

What year was Walnut Grove founded?

The Walnut Grove post office opened in 1854, 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, 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.