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History · Lumber Bridge

Lumber Bridge’s post office opened in 1851, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1972 on, and the census since 1900.

1851first post office
0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lumber Bridge’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lumber Bridge began

When was Lumber Bridge founded?

1851

The Lumber Bridge post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 181 in 19002020 census: 82175 years
Founding year: the first Lumber Bridge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lumber Bridge’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 214 in 1930; 82 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lumber Bridge’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lumber Bridge’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHistoric American Buildings Survey, D.H…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Lumber Bridge, census by census

01002001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 214

Peaked at 214 in 1930; 82 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story so far

Lumber Bridge, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lumber Bridge yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Lumber Bridge is a town in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 82 at the 2020 census. The town was incorporated by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1891. Believed to date from 1776, the original land grant was part of the holdings of Levey Glass. The town's name comes from the hand-hewn wooden bridge over the Little Marsh Swamp.

Its first post office opened in 1851. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 94 to 82 (-13%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Lumber Bridge, 1851 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe Lumber Bridge post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1906Post officeThe Lumber Bridge post office closes
  5. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 214
  6. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Lumber Bridge, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Historic American Buildings Survey, D.H. Smith, Photographer, 1940 GENERAL VIEW. - Presbyterian ChurchDate?Historic American Buildings Survey, D.H. Smith, Photo…
Today2 recent
Lumber Bridge Presbyterian2010Lumber Bridge PresbyterianNCMap-doton-LumberBridge2004NCMap-doton-LumberBridge
On the map

Lumber Bridge on the map, 1972 to 1982

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

Lumber Bridge on the 1972 USGS mapLumber Bridge on the 1982 USGS map1972Parkton 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 Lumber Bridge.

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.

Historic American Buildings Survey, D.H. Smith, Photographer, 1940 GENERAL VIEW. - Presbyterian Church
Retake this viewHistoric American Buildings Survey, D.H. Smith, Photographer, 1940 GENERAL VIEW. - Presbyterian Church

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Lumber Bridge had its own post office from 1851 to 1906.

Lumber Bridge
1851–1906
18501940today

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

Questions about Lumber Bridge’s history

What year was Lumber Bridge founded?

The Lumber Bridge post office opened in 1851, 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 →
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 (3), 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.