Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Powellsville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Powellsville

Powellsville’s post office opened in 1879

Most of Powellsville was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. Below: maps from 1982 on and the census since 1900.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Powellsville began

When was Powellsville founded?

1879

The Powellsville post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 44 in 19002020 census: 189147 years
Founding year: the first Powellsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Powellsville’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 Powellsville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 320 in 1980; 189 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Powellsville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Powellsville’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

Powellsville, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 320

Peaked at 320 in 1980; 189 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story so far

Powellsville, in brief

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

Powellsville is a town in Bertie County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Powellsville had a population of 189. The town is home to Travis Bond (NFL lineman)

Its first post office opened in 1879. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 276 to 189 (-32%).

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

Timeline

Powellsville, 1879 to 1982

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Powellsville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 320
  5. 1982On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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

Powellsville on the map, 1982 to 2000

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

Powellsville on the 1982 USGS mapPowellsville on the 2000 USGS map1982Powellsville 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 Powellsville.

Famous people

Famous people close to Powellsville

Nobody well known was born in Powellsville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Harriet JacobsAmerican slave, writer, and abolitionist · b. 1815
Kent BazemoreAmerican basketball player · b. 1989
William BlountAmerican statesman and land speculator who sign… · b. 1749
William AllenAmerican politician, 31st Governor of Ohio · b. 1803
E
Ella MitchellAmerican actress · b. 1937
J
Jesse GonzalezMexican association football player · b. 1995

Questions about Powellsville’s history

What year was Powellsville founded?

The Powellsville post office opened in 1879, 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 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.