Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Memphis

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 · Memphis

Memphis’ post office opened in 1888, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1910.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Memphis began

When was Memphis founded?

1888

The Memphis post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 162 in 19102020 census: 109138 years
Founding year: the first Memphis post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Memphis’ 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 Memphis are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18933 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1982. Watch Memphis change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Memphis’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Memphis’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
On the map

Memphis on the map, 1893 to 1982

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

Memphis on the 1893 USGS mapMemphis on the 1969 USGS mapMemphis on the 1982 USGS map1893Fremont sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Memphis.

The story

How Memphis came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Memphis.

Read it all →

Memphis was established in the 1880s when the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was extended to that point. A large share of the early settlers being natives of Memphis, Tennessee caused the name to be selected.

Jack C. Owen owned the land that Memphis was platted on. Originally they wanted to call the town Owenville, but Mr. Owen wanted nothing to do with

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Memphis, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Old Town Hall2017Old Town HallNEMap-doton-Memphis2005NEMap-doton-Memphis
People over time

Memphis, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 186

Between 71 and 186 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Questions about Memphis’ history

What year was Memphis founded?

The Memphis post office opened in 1888, 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 (2), 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.