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History · Ethridge

Ethridge’s post office opened in 1883, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Farmers and Merchants Bank. Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1980.

1883first post office

1on the National Register

27%homes built before 1940

2famous people

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Quick answers

How Ethridge began

When was Ethridge founded?

1883

The Ethridge post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 548 in 19802020 census: 537143 years

Founding year: the first Ethridge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ethridge’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 Ethridge are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.

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Start Ethridge’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ethridge’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

How Ethridge came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ethridge.

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Ethridge began as a railroad stop known as Hudson Springs, which stood a few miles south of the present site of the town, in the 1880s. A political booster and store owner at the stop successfully petitioned the railroad to name the stop in honor of Emerson Etheridge, a prominent mid-19th century politician and post–Civil War candidate for governor. The current site of Ethridge, meanwhile, was located at the intersection of two mid-19th century cattle drovers' roads. When the railroad constructed a station at this site in the late 1890s, it was named Wayne Station. After constant confusion resulted in passengers bound for Wayne Station winding up at Ethridge, a prominent real estate broker in the area convinced the railroad to close the Ethridge stop and rename the Wayne Station stop "Ethridge".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ethridge, 1883 to 1936

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

19th century
1883Post officeThe Ethridge post office opens
20th century
1918Born hereEdward V. Gant is born here
1922Born hereIra North is born here
1927BuiltFarmers and Merchants Bank is built
1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Ethridge, decade by decade

Today5 recent

2016Ethridge-Main-Church-tn1

2016Ethridge-Machine-Shop-tn1

2016Ethridge-Depot-Street-tn2

2016Ethridge-Depot-Street-tn1

2016Ethridge-City-Hall-tn1

On the map

Ethridge on the map, 1936 to 1988

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

1936Ethridge 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 Ethridge.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Ethridge

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

2017

Farmers and Merchants Bank

Buildings

Farmers and Merchants BankBuilt 1927

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Ethridge, census by census

Between 465 and 565 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Ethridge

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Ira NorthAuthor and editor, Preacher at Madison Church o… · b. 1922

Edward V. GantThree-time acting president of the University o… · b. 1918

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Ethridge’s post office has been open since 1883.

Gone or out of use

Wayne Stationlocale

1cemetery inside Ethridge

Lay

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

Questions about Ethridge’s history

What year was Ethridge founded?

The Ethridge post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Ethridge?

One place: the Farmers and Merchants Bank (listed 2017).

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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.

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