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History · Selma

Selma’s post office opened in 1897

Most of Selma was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1963. Below: maps from 1954 on.

1897first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Selma began

When was Selma founded?

1897

The Selma post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 661129 years
Founding year: the first Selma post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Selma’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 Selma are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Selma’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Selma’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Selma’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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The story so far

Selma, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Selma yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1897. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 695 to 661 (-5%).

By decade

Selma, decade by decade

Today4 recent
US 199 Safety Corridor2020US 199 Safety CorridorInstall Safety Corridor Sign2020Install Safety Corridor SignSouthWest POINT2019SouthWest POINTSouthWest POINT2019SouthWest POINT
On the map

Selma on the map, 1954 to 1996

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

Selma on the 1954 USGS mapSelma on the 1989 USGS mapSelma on the 1996 USGS map1954Selma 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 Selma.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Selma’s post office has been open since 1897.

Gone or out of use
Fort Hayeslocale
1cemetery inside Selma
Selma

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

Questions about Selma’s history

What year was Selma founded?

The Selma post office opened in 1897, 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 Wikimedia Commons (4), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.