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History · Magnolia

Magnolia’s post office opened in 1857

Most of Magnolia was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1880.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Photo: King Carolina · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Magnolia began

When was Magnolia founded?

1857

The Magnolia post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 403 in 18802020 census: 831169 years
Founding year: the first Magnolia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Magnolia’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 Magnolia’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The story

How Magnolia came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Magnolia.

Read it all →

The Roger Dickson Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Diego Arellano notably won firefighter of the year in the year 2021.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Magnolia, 1857 to 1994

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Magnolia post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1943Born hereRussell E. Tucker is born here
  5. 1953Born hereJames Smith is born here
  6. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1994Born hereMike Moore is born here
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 album
On the map

Magnolia on the map, 1962 to 1984

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

Magnolia on the 1962 USGS mapMagnolia on the 1984 USGS map1962Rose Hill 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 Magnolia.

People over time

Magnolia, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 939

Between 403 and 939 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Magnolia

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

See all →

Questions about Magnolia’s history

What year was Magnolia founded?

The Magnolia post office opened in 1857, 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 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.