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History · Woodville

Woodville’s post office opened in 1812, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 91 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.

1812first post office
5on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
9old photos & papers
11famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Woodville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Woodville began

When was Woodville founded?

1812

The Woodville post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 965 in 18802020 census: 928214 years
Founding year: the first Woodville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Woodville’s past

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

A historic districtThe Woodville Historic District takes in 91 historic buildings.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,856 in 1960; 928 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1886 to 1909, drew every building in Woodville.Deep rootsA post office since 1812: 214 years of Woodville.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

5 listings protect 95 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
95
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Rosemont
Branch Banking HouseOffice and Banking House of West Feliciana RailroadHampton Hall, built 1832Woodville Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Federal3
Greek Revival3
Neo-Classical1
Vernacular1
Italianate1
Queen Anne1
RosemontBuilt 1810
Branch Banking HouseFederal
All 5 listings
Office and Banking House of West Feliciana RailroadBuilding · listed 1977Hampton HallBuilding · listed 1980Woodville Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1982

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

People over time

Woodville, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,856

Peaked at 1,856 in 1960; 928 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Every building

Woodville, building by building, 1886–1909

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Woodville fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 11886Sheet 1 of 3
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Woodville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Woodville.

Read it all →

According to a steamboat man named Samuel Clement, after the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson took from the U.S. armory two cannons that had been used at the Battle of Saratoga and sent one to Woodville and one to Natchez. In 1831 there was a plan to build a railroad from Woodville to St. Francisville at Bayou Sara under the title of West Feliciana Railroad Company.

Woodville Historic District, encompassing many of the older buildings in the urban center, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Woodville, 1810 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1810BuiltRosemont is built
  3. 1812Post officeThe Woodville post office opens
  4. 1832BuiltHampton Hall is built
  5. 1840Born hereJames Hanham is born here
  6. 1858Born hereJulia K. Wetherill Baker is born here
  7. 1862In the archiveRecto West Feliciana Rail Road Company (Mississippi) 2 dollars 1862
  8. 1895Born hereWilliam Grant Still is born here
  9. 20th century
  10. 1904In the archiveHome of Jefferson Davis, boyhood days
  11. 1909Born hereLester Young is born here
  12. 1935In the archiveChurch turned into a movie house
  13. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  14. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 1,856
By decade

Woodville, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s2 items
Recto West Feliciana Rail Road Company (Mississippi) 2 dollars 18621862Recto West Feliciana Rail Road Company (Mississippi) …Verso West Feliciana Rail Road Company (Mississippi) 2 dollars 18621862Verso West Feliciana Rail Road Company (Mississippi) …
1900s–1930s3 items
Home of Jefferson Davis, boyhood days1904Home of Jefferson Davis, boyhood daysChurch turned into a movie house1935Church turned into a movie houseUntitled photo, possibly related to: Church turned into a movie house1935Untitled photo, possibly related to: Church turned in…
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
Date unknown4 to date
SaulsberryDate?SaulsberryLewis HouseDate?Lewis HouseBaptist ChurchDate?Baptist ChurchWest Feliciana Railroad Right-of-WayDate?West Feliciana Railroad Right-of-Way
Today9 recent
West Feliciana Railroad historic marker2026West Feliciana Railroad historic markerWoodville Blues - Mississippi Blues Trail Marker2017Woodville Blues - Mississippi Blues Trail MarkerBranch Banking House2016Branch Banking HouseRosemont Plantation, home of Jefferson Davis2014Rosemont Plantation, home of Jefferson DavisWoodvilleMStownscene2013WoodvilleMStownsceneWoodville First Presbyterian Church2008Woodville First Presbyterian ChurchFEMA - 38056 - Preliminary Damage Assessment worker with resident in Mississippi2008FEMA - 38056 - Preliminary Damage Assessment worker w…Evergreen Cemetery2008Evergreen CemeteryBeth Israel - Beth Israel Cemetery, Woodville (Wilkinson County), Mississippi2008Beth Israel - Beth Israel Cemetery, Woodville (Wilkin…
On the map

Woodville on the map, 1936 to 1988

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

Woodville on the 1936 USGS mapWoodville on the 1958 USGS mapWoodville on the 1988 USGS map1936Woodville 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 Woodville.

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.

Recto West Feliciana Rail Road Company (Mississippi) 2 dollars 1862
Retake this viewRecto West Feliciana Rail Road Company (Mississippi) 2 dollars 1862, 1862

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

11 famous people were born in Woodville

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

See all →
Lester YoungAmerican jazz saxophonist · b. 1909
W
William Grant StillAmerican composer · b. 1895
James HanhamAmerican chess player · b. 1840
Julia K. Wetherill BakerAmerican poet · b. 1858
R
Rudolph MatthewsAmerican handball player · b. 1945
David C. BramletteUnited States federal judge · b. 1939
Help out

Finish Woodville’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo4 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewRecto West Feliciana Rail Road Company …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Woodville’s history

What year was Woodville founded?

The Woodville post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Woodville?

5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Rosemont (listed 1974, the first), and 1 historic district, the Woodville Historic District, with 91 contributing buildings. 95 historic buildings in all.

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (11), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.