The story
Read it all →How Wade came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Wade.
The Old Bluff Presbyterian Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Wade
Wade’s post office opened in 1886, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Old Bluff Presbyterian Church. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1974 on, and the census since 1920.
1886first post office
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Quick answers
How Wade began
When was Wade founded?
1886
The Wade post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Averysboro (1794), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 190 in 19202020 census: 638140 years
Founding year: the first Wade post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Wade’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · People over time
Wade, census by census
Lost half of its people between 1980 and 1990, then more than doubled.
8 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wade’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Wade, 1794 to 2020
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 18th century
- 1794Post officeThe Averysboro post office opens
- 19th century
- 1884Post officeThe Averysboro post office closes
- 1886Post officeThe Wade post office opens
- 1899
In the archiveBluff Presbyterian Church - 20th century
- 1974
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 21st century
- 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 638
By decade
Wade, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1890s6 items
1899
1899
1899
1899
18991900s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
2011
2009On the map
Wade on the map, 1974 to 1986
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wade. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1974Wade 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 Wade.
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.
Retake this viewBluff Presbyterian Church, 1899
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Wade’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 historic place in Wade
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
1974
Old Bluff Presbyterian Church
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Greek Revival1
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 Wade
Nobody well known was born in Wade itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices
Wade’s post office has been open since 1886. Another post office, Averysboro, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Averysboro
Wade
17901910today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Wade’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Questions about Wade’s history
What year was Wade founded?
The Wade post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Wade?
One place: the Old Bluff Presbyterian Church (listed 1974).
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 Wikimedia Commons (8), 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.