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History · Redbird

Redbird’s post office opened in 1902

Most of Redbird was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1920.

1902first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Redbird began

When was Redbird founded?

1902

The Redbird post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1907.

First census: 336 in 19202020 census: 89124 years
Founding year: the first Redbird post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1907.The full story ↓

What stands out about Redbird’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 Redbird are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 411 in 1950; 89 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Redbird’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Redbird’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

Redbird, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 411

Peaked at 411 in 1950; 89 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Redbird came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Redbird.

Read it all →

Redbird, also called Red Bird, originated with the settlement by the family of E. L. Barber, who founded the First Baptist Church in 1889. Other families soon moved into the area. By 1902, Red Bird had obtained a post office. More than 600 people showed up at the official opening of Red Bird on August 10, 1907.

The town advertised in newspapers all across the South to encourage black families to relocate there. Redbird's population attained a peak of 336 in 1920. Declining cotton prices caused residents to move away, even before the Great Depression. It rebounded after World War II, and at one point had seven churches, a couple of general stores, eight juke joints, and a gas station.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Redbird, 1902 to 1963

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1902Post officeThe Redbird post office opens
  3. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 411
  4. 1963On 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

Redbird on the map, 1963 to 1993

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

Redbird on the 1963 USGS mapRedbird on the 1993 USGS map1963Red Bird 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 Redbird.

Famous people

Famous people close to Redbird

Nobody well known was born in Redbird itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
C
Carrie UnderwoodAmerican singer and actor · b. 1983
Kristin ChenowethAmerican actress, singer, author · b. 1968
Barney KesselAmerican jazz guitarist · b. 1923
Ester DeanAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1982
Bill BrightAmerican evangelist · b. 1921
Reubin AskewAmerican politician · b. 1928
Places that used to be

Old corners

Redbird’s post office has been open since 1902.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Red Bird

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Redbird’s history

What year was Redbird founded?

The Redbird post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1907.

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.