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History · Finger

Finger’s post office opened in 1895, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1980.

1895first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Finger began

When was Finger founded?

1895

The Finger post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 245 in 19802020 census: 276131 years
Founding year: the first Finger post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Finger’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 Finger are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Finger’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Finger’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 Finger came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Finger.

Read it all →

The area in and around Finger was settled in the early to mid-1820s. Originally named McIntyre's Crossing, after Robert Thompson McIntyre, who was an early political leader and businessman, it was not named Finger until 1895. Between its settlement and 1895, the area progressed and both education and business were important to the area's inhabitants. During the American Civil War, the area provided many soldiers to the Union cause as the area was largely Unionist and Republican in its politics.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Finger, 1895 to 1936

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1895Post officeThe Finger post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1934Born hereJim Clayton is born here
  5. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Finger, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Finger-post-office-tn2017Finger-post-office-tnFinger-TN199-tn2017Finger-TN199-tnFinger-Community-Center-tn2017Finger-Community-Center-tn
On the map

Finger on the map, 1936 to 1972

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

Finger on the 1936 USGS mapFinger on the 1949 USGS mapFinger on the 1972 USGS map1936Mt Peter 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 Finger.

People over time

Finger, census by census

0100200300198020002020Peak: 350

Between 245 and 350 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Finger’s post office has been open since 1895.

Gone or out of use
Finger Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Finger
Finger

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

Questions about Finger’s history

What year was Finger founded?

The Finger post office opened in 1895, 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 →
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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 (3), 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.