The story
Read it all →How Smock came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Smock.
The community was named after Samuel Smock, the original owner of the town site.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Smock
Smock’s post office opened in 1884, and 63% of its homes were built before 1940
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1914 on.
1884first post office
1on the National Register
63%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Quick answers
How Smock began
When was Smock founded?
1884
The Smock post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 549142 years
Founding year: the first Smock post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Smock’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Smock’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Smock’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Smock, 1914 to 1993
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Smock, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1910s1 item
1920s–1980snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumDate unknown1 to date
Date?
2026
2013
2013Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewCsizmadia Károly banki nyugta 1914, 1914
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Smock’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 listing protects 177 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
177
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Smock’s history
What year was Smock founded?
The Smock post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.