The story
Read it all →How Calypso came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Calypso.
The Bryan Whitfield Herring Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Calypso
Calypso’s post office opened in 1898, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Bryan Whitfield Herring Farm. Below: maps from 1977 on and the census since 1920.
1898first post office
1on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Calypso began
When was Calypso founded?
1898
The Calypso post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 405 in 19202020 census: 327128 years
Founding year: the first Calypso post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Calypso’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Calypso’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Calypso’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Calypso, census by census
Peaked at 689 in 1980; 327 people lived here in 2020.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Calypso’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Calypso, 1898 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1898Post officeThe Calypso post office opens
- 20th century
- 1977
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 689
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 albumOn the map
Calypso on the map, 1977 to 1986
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Calypso. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1977Mount Olive sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Calypso.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Calypso
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
2001
Bryan Whitfield Herring Farm
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Greek Revival1
All 1 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Calypso
Nobody well known was born in Calypso itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Questions about Calypso’s history
What year was Calypso founded?
The Calypso post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Calypso?
One place: the Bryan Whitfield Herring Farm (listed 2001).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.