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History · Adams

Adams’ post office opened in 1890, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1910.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Adams began

When was Adams founded?

1890

The Adams post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1905.

First census: 338 in 19102020 census: 127136 years
Founding year: the first Adams post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1905.The full story ↓

What stands out about Adams’ 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 Adams are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 411 in 1950; 127 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Adams’ homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Adams’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Adams’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

Adams, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 411

Peaked at 411 in 1950; 127 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Adams came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Adams.

Read it all →

Adams was founded in 1905. Adams is twinned with Bulwick, Northamptonshire.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Adams, 1890 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Adams post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1932Born hereNeil Levang is born here
  5. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 411
  6. 1972On 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.
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On the map

Adams on the map, 1972 to 1993

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

Adams on the 1972 USGS mapAdams on the 1985 USGS mapAdams on the 1993 USGS map1972Adams 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 Adams.

Questions about Adams’ history

What year was Adams founded?

The Adams post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1905.

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.