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History · Calhoun

Calhoun’s post office opened in 1820, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1870.

1820first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Calhoun’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Calhoun began

When was Calhoun founded?

1820

The Calhoun post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 232 in 18702020 census: 536206 years
Founding year: the first Calhoun post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Calhoun’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1820: 206 years of Calhoun.Old housesHalf of Calhoun’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Calhoun’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewView of town: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Calhoun, 1820 to 1939

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1820Post officeThe Calhoun post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1939In the archiveView of town
The story

How Calhoun came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Calhoun.

Read it all →

The area where Calhoun is located was settled by John Walker (c. 1770-1834), a part-Cherokee grandson of Nancy Ward and a prominent figure in the formation of McMinn County. Walker helped contract the Cherokee Turnpike Company in 1808 to maintain a road between Knoxville and Georgia. What is now Calhoun began around 1808, when Walker established a ferry across the Hiwassee River between the present locations of Calhoun and Charleston. In 1819, Walker helped negotiate the Calhoun Treaty, where the Cherokee ceded the remaining lands between the Hiwassee River and the Little Tennessee River to the U.S. government. That same year McMinn County was organized at Walker's home in Calhoun. In 1820, Walker laid out the town of Calhoun, which he named for John C. Calhoun, the Calhoun Treaty's chief U.S. negotiator. Walker's son, John "Jack" Walker Jr., would eventually be assassinated by two anti…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Calhoun, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s1 item
View of town1939View of town
1940s–1990snothing 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 album
Today6 recent
Calhoun-townhall-po-tn12016Calhoun-townhall-po-tn1Calhoun-Town-Hall-tn12016Calhoun-Town-Hall-tn1Calhoun-SR163-tn12016Calhoun-SR163-tn1Calhoun-FBC-gazebo-tn12016Calhoun-FBC-gazebo-tn1Calhoun-tennessee-po12007Calhoun-tennessee-po1Calhoun-tennessee-bowater12007Calhoun-tennessee-bowater1
On the map

Calhoun on the map, 1935 to 1980

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

Calhoun on the 1935 USGS mapCalhoun on the 1943 USGS mapCalhoun on the 1964 USGS mapCalhoun on the 1980 USGS map1935Calhoun 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 Calhoun.

Then & 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.

View of town
Retake this viewView of town, 1939

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Calhoun’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Calhoun, census by census

010020030040050060018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 624

Between 203 and 624 people in every census since 1870.

9 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Calhoun

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

See all →
John Tyler MorganUnited States politician and Confederate soldier · b. 1824
Matt LampsonAmerican soccer player · b. 1989
Van HillearyAmerican politician · b. 1959
LatimoreAmerican singer · b. 1939
Anthony BurgerPianist · b. 1961
D
Darnell MeeAustralian basketball player · b. 1971
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Calhoun’s post office has been open since 1820.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Watt Heights
Gone or out of use
Calhoun High SchoolschoolWalkers Ferrycrossing
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Calhoun
Calhoun CommunityShiloh Presbyterian

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Charleston3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Calhoun’s history

What year was Calhoun founded?

The Calhoun post office opened in 1820, 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 Wikimedia Commons (7), 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.