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History · Kittrell

Kittrell’s post office opened in 1854, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Thomas Capehart House, the Josiah Crudup House and the St. James Episcopal Church and Rectory. Below: maps from 1979 on and the census since 1890.

1854first post office
3on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
5famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Kittrell began

When was Kittrell founded?

1854

The Kittrell post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Staunton (1841), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 317 in 18902020 census: 132172 years
Founding year: the first Kittrell post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Kittrell’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 Kittrell are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 467 in 2010; 132 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kittrell’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kittrell’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

Kittrell, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 467

Peaked at 467 in 2010; 132 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Kittrell came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kittrell.

Read it all →

Kittrell was chartered in 1885, with its first mayor David Outlaw, a merchant and bachelor. In 1860, one census district in Granville County the primary of the three parent counties (73% of the land area of Vance County was taken from Granville County) of Vance County, was called Kittrell's Depot. Kittrell's Depot was a railroad depot named for George Kittrell and his wife, Elizabeth Boswell Kittrell, who donated the land for a Raleigh and Gaston Railroad station. The first post office for the Kittrell area, with Elisha Overton as its first postmaster, was established in 1854, replacing one in neighboring Stanton in the Epping Forest area which lacked direct railroad access, this establishment occurring shortly after Kittrell's Depot became operational. An 1868 state law required county governments to divide counties into smaller units of townships. Kittrell Township, including the dep…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kittrell, 1841 to 2010

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1841Post officeThe Staunton post office opens
  3. 1854Post officeThe Staunton post office closes
  4. 1854Post officeThe Kittrell post office opens
  5. 1870BuiltThomas Capehart House is built
  6. 1872BuiltSt. James Episcopal Church and Rectory is built
  7. 20th century
  8. 1908Born hereJohn Hervey Wheeler is born here
  9. 1918Born hereCharity Adams Earley is born here
  10. 1933Born hereGeorge Harris is born here
  11. 1979On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 21st century
  13. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 467
By decade

Kittrell, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Josiah Crudup House Rt side 10-24-20202020Josiah Crudup House Rt side 10-24-2020Josiah Crudup House Kittrell NC 10-24-20202020Josiah Crudup House Kittrell NC 10-24-2020Josiah Crudup House 10-24-20202020Josiah Crudup House 10-24-2020Kittrell, North Carolina2019Kittrell, North CarolinaThomas Capehart House2017Thomas Capehart HouseSt. James Episcopal Church and Rectory2017St. James Episcopal Church and Rectory
On the map

Kittrell on the map, 1979 to 1991

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

Kittrell on the 1979 USGS mapKittrell on the 1984 USGS mapKittrell on the 1991 USGS map1979Kittrell 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 Kittrell.

On the National Register

3 historic places in Kittrell

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1977
Thomas Capehart House
Josiah Crudup HouseSt. James Episcopal Church and Rectory, built 1872
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Gothic1
Federal1
Carpenter Gothic1
Thomas Capehart HouseGothic · Built 1870
Josiah Crudup HouseFederal
All 3 listings
St. James Episcopal Church and RectoryBuilding · listed 1978

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

Famous people

5 famous people were born in Kittrell

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

See all →
Charity Adams EarleyUnited States African American woman Army offic… · b. 1918
G
George HarrisMember of the first United States Olympic judo … · b. 1933
M
Mary HintonAmerican academic
John Hervey WheelerAfrican American bank president and civil right… · b. 1908
W
Warren PeaceAmerican baseball player · b. 1921
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Kittrell’s post office has been open since 1854. Another post office, Staunton, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Staunton
1841–1854
Kittrell
1854–today
18401930today

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

Questions about Kittrell’s history

What year was Kittrell founded?

The Kittrell post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Kittrell?

Three places: the Thomas Capehart House (listed 1977), the Josiah Crudup House (1979) and the St. James Episcopal Church and Rectory (1978).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.