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McLemoresville TN 005Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected]) · CC BY 3.0
–Not graded
History · McLemoresville

McLemoresville’s post office opened in 1831

Most of McLemoresville was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1965. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1966 on, and the census since 1880.

1831first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected]) · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How McLemoresville began

When was McLemoresville founded?

1831

The McLemoresville post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 151 in 18802020 census: 288195 years
Founding year: the first McLemoresville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about McLemoresville’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 1831: 195 years of McLemoresville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start McLemoresville’s collection

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

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

McLemoresville, 1831 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1831Post officeThe Mc Lemoresville post office opens
  3. 1865In the archiveWilliam Parker Caldwell - Brady-Handy
  4. 20th century
  5. 1939Born hereDixie Carter is born here
  6. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How McLemoresville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of McLemoresville.

Read it all →

McLemoresville was once, briefly in the 19th century, the county seat for Carroll County, and was the largest town in the county. Bethel College (later Bethel University), the Cumberland Presbyterian Church's only four-year liberal arts college, began in McLemoresville, as did the denomination's theological school. Both later relocated to McKenzie, after the railroad companies laid down tracks in the mid-19th century and did not include McLemoresville. The town then started its decline. Later, in the 1950s, the Theological School moved to Memphis, where it was renamed Memphis Theological Seminary.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

McLemoresville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s1 item
William Parker Caldwell - Brady-Handy1865William Parker Caldwell - Brady-Handy
Today9 recent
McLemoresville TN 0092012McLemoresville TN 009McLemoresville TN 0082012McLemoresville TN 008McLemoresville TN 0072012McLemoresville TN 007McLemoresville TN 0062012McLemoresville TN 006McLemoresville TN 0052012McLemoresville TN 005McLemoresville TN 0042012McLemoresville TN 004McLemoresville TN 0032012McLemoresville TN 003McLemoresville TN 0022012McLemoresville TN 002McLemoresville TN 0012012McLemoresville TN 001
On the map

McLemoresville on the map, 1966 to 1977

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

McLemoresville on the 1966 USGS mapMcLemoresville on the 1977 USGS map1966Mc Lemoresville 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 McLemoresville.

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.

William Parker Caldwell - Brady-Handy
Retake this viewWilliam Parker Caldwell - Brady-Handy, 1865

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

McLemoresville, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 352

Between 151 and 352 people in every census since 1880.

9 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Gone or out of use
McLemoresville Collegiate InstituteschoolMcLemoresville Schoolschool
1cemetery inside McLemoresville
McLemoresville

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

Questions about McLemoresville’s history

What year was McLemoresville founded?

The McLemoresville post office opened in 1831, 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 (10), 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.