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History · Bakersville

Bakersville’s post office opened in 1827, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Mitchell County Courthouse. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1934 on, and the census since 1900.

1827first post office
1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bakersville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bakersville began

When was Bakersville founded?

1827

The Bakersville post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 511 in 19002020 census: 450199 years
Founding year: the first Bakersville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bakersville’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 1827: 199 years of Bakersville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bakersville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bakersville’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 viewCharles E. Green House: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Bakersville, 1827 to 1936

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1827Post officeThe Bakersville post office opens
  3. 1884Born hereWilliam Bowman is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910In the archiveCharles E. Green House
  6. 1934On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1936Born hereWaddell Wilson is born here
The story

How Bakersville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bakersville.

Read it all →

In prehistoric times, local mica deposits were extensively mined by Native Americans. The first Euro-American settlers arrived in the area after the American Revolution, establishing scattered homesteads. The town of Bakersville dates from the 1850s and was named for David Baker, a Revolutionary War soldier and one of the first to live in the area around 1790 and described as "a large land owner, innkeeper, merchant and political leader until his death in 1838. Some of David's sons and daughters remained and were equally influential in the area for many years after David's death." Situated on the main route leading over Roan Mountain and westward into Tennessee, the town developed slowly. Traveler Frederick Law Olmsted passed through Bakersville in the early 1850s and noted that the "town" consisted of only a couple of cabins within a quarter-mile radius. In 1861, a post office was esta…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Bakersville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s2 items
Charles E. Green House1910Charles E. Green HouseAmerican forestry1911American forestry
1920s–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
Bottle2014BottleBakersville, NC2013Bakersville, NCNCMap-doton-Bakersville2004NCMap-doton-Bakersville
On the map

Bakersville on the map, 1934 to 1960

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

Bakersville on the 1934 USGS mapBakersville on the 1960 USGS map1934Bakersville 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 Bakersville.

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.

Charles E. Green House
Retake this viewCharles E. Green House, 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Bakersville

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
1979
Mitchell County Courthouse
Mitchell County Courthouse
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Neo-Classical Revival1
Mitchell County CourthouseNeo-Classical Revival

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

People over time

Bakersville, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 511

Between 332 and 511 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Bakersville

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

See all →
William BowmanAmerican film director · b. 1884
Waddell WilsonNASCAR crew chief · b. 1936

Questions about Bakersville’s history

What year was Bakersville founded?

The Bakersville post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Bakersville?

One place: the Mitchell County Courthouse (listed 1979).

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 (5), Wikidata (1), 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.