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Decaturville-Main-St-tnPhoto: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
–Not graded
History · Decaturville

Decaturville’s post office opened in 1847

Most of Decaturville was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1936 on, and the census since 1850.

1847first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Decaturville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Decaturville began

When was Decaturville founded?

1847

The Decaturville post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 168 in 18502020 census: 807179 years
Founding year: the first Decaturville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Decaturville’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 1847: 179 years of Decaturville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Decaturville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Decaturville’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 viewHigh School: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Decaturville, 1847 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1847Post officeThe Decaturville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1940In the archiveHigh School
The story so far

Decaturville, in brief

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

Decaturville is a town in and the county seat of Decatur County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 census, Decaturville had a population of 807. It is named for American Revolutionary War Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr.

Its first post office opened in 1847. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 867 to 807 (-7%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Decaturville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
High School1940High School
1950s–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
Today5 recent
Decaturville-Main-St-tn2019Decaturville-Main-St-tnDecaturville-City-Hall-tn2019Decaturville-City-Hall-tnDecaturville-Brownsport-Furnace-marker-tn2019Decaturville-Brownsport-Furnace-marker-tnDecatur-County-Public-Library-tn2019Decatur-County-Public-Library-tnDecatur-County-Courthouse-tn2019Decatur-County-Courthouse-tn
On the map

Decaturville on the map, 1936 to 1986

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

Decaturville on the 1936 USGS mapDecaturville on the 1949 USGS mapDecaturville on the 1986 USGS map1936Perryville 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 Decaturville.

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.

High School
Retake this viewHigh School, 1940

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Decaturville, census by census

02004006008001,0001850190019502000Peak: 1,004

Between 168 and 1,004 people in every census since 1850.

14 censuses, 1850–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Decaturville

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

See all →
Eddy ArnoldAmerican country music singer, songwriter · b. 1918
Elizabeth PattersonAmerican actress · b. 1874
Thomas Sigismund StriblingAmerican author and lawyer · b. 1881
Whitney DuncanAmerican country music singer and reality telev… · b. 1984
B
Bob HarrisBasketball player · b. 1927
K
Kirk HastonAmerican basketball player and politician · b. 1979
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Decaturville’s post office has been open since 1847.

Gone or out of use
Decatur County Training SchoolschoolDecaturville High Schoolschool

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

Questions about Decaturville’s history

What year was Decaturville founded?

The Decaturville post office opened in 1847, 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 (6), 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.