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B−History
History · Fall Branch

Fall Branch’s post office opened in 1830, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 54% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1892 on.

1830first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How Fall Branch began

When was Fall Branch founded?

1830

The Fall Branch post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,248196 years

How historic is Fall Branch?

B−

More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Fall Branch post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Fall Branch’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fall Branch is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fall Branch’s overall grade.
Founding era1830, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194015.8% of homes (±9.9) · typical TN town 4.9% · U.S. 8.4%BNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical TN town 6.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 54%
NewerOlder

Tennessee towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Tennessee town has 6.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Fall Branch’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (16% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Fall Branch’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 Fall Branch are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18923 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1980. Watch Fall Branch change.Deep rootsA post office since 1830: 196 years of Fall Branch.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fall Branch’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Fall Branch on the map, 1892 to 1980

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

Fall Branch on the 1892 USGS mapFall Branch on the 1904 USGS mapFall Branch on the 1980 USGS map1892Greeneville sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fall Branch.

Timeline

Fall Branch, 1830 to 1984

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1830Post officeThe Fall Branch post office opens
  3. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1984Born hereWill Little is born here
The story

How Fall Branch came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fall Branch.

Read it all →

One of the earliest settlers at Fall Branch was Isaac White, a Revolutionary War veteran who arrived in the area in 1781. He eventually established a farm at what is now the intersection of Interstate 81 and State Highway 93. Another early settler, Gabriel Morgan, built a grist mill at Fall Branch in the early 1800s. The mill stood until the 1930s, when it was torn down.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Fall Branch, decade by decade

Today5 recent
Fall-Branch-Ruritan-Club-tn12015Fall-Branch-Ruritan-Club-tn1Fall-Branch-Post-Office-tn12015Fall-Branch-Post-Office-tn1Fall-Branch-Hwy93-tn22015Fall-Branch-Hwy93-tn2Fall-Branch-Hwy93-tn12015Fall-Branch-Hwy93-tn1Fall-Branch-FBC-Cemetery-tn12015Fall-Branch-FBC-Cemetery-tn1
Places that used to be

Old burying grounds

Fall Branch’s post office has been open since 1830.

4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Fall Branch
BainesFall BranchFall BranchOld Fall Branch-Hooper

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

Questions about Fall Branch’s history

What year was Fall Branch founded?

The Fall Branch post office opened in 1830, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Fall Branch rank for history?

Fall Branch is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Fall Branch?

16% of Fall Branch’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.9 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1976.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.