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History · Carney

Carney’s post office opened in 1892

Most of Carney was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: maps from 1909 on and the census since 1910.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Carney began

When was Carney founded?

1892

The Carney post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 260 in 19102020 census: 545134 years
Founding year: the first Carney post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Carney’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 Carney are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1920 and 1960, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Carney’s collection

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

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

Carney, census by census

0100200300400500600700192019401960198020002020367 in 1920Low: 227

Lost a third of its people between 1920 and 1960, then more than doubled.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Carney came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Carney.

Read it all →

On May 19, 2013, an EF3 tornado struck the southeastern part of town and nearby rural areas.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Carney, 1892 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Carney post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1909On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 649
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

Carney on the map, 1909 to 1978

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

Carney on the 1909 USGS mapCarney on the 1978 USGS map1909Perkins 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 Carney.

Questions about Carney’s history

What year was Carney founded?

The Carney post office opened in 1892, 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, 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.