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History · Davidson

Davidson’s post office opened in 1903, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1910.

1903first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Davidson began

When was Davidson founded?

1903

The Davidson post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 361 in 19102020 census: 241123 years
Founding year: the first Davidson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Davidson’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 Davidson are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 572 in 1930; 241 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Davidson’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Davidson’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Davidson’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

Davidson, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 572

Peaked at 572 in 1930; 241 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Davidson came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Davidson.

Read it all →

This area was opened for homesteading by a lottery held in 1901, and the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway promptly built a line in from Texas. A post office called Olds was established at the location on May 21, 1902; the name was changed to Davidson on June 20, 1903, named in honor of A. J. Davidson, a railroad director. The city government was not formally organized until 1916.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Davidson, 1903 to 1985

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Davidson post office opens
  3. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 572
  4. 1985On 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

Davidson on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Davidson.

Davidson on the 1985 USGS map1985Davidson 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 Davidson.

Questions about Davidson’s history

What year was Davidson founded?

The Davidson post office opened in 1903, 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 →
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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.