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C−History
History · Millington

Millington’s post office opened in 1879

More historic than 18% of U.S. towns · #151 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it

Most of Millington was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1930 on, and the census since 1910.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
13old photos & papers
9famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Millington’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Millington began

When was Millington founded?

1879

The Millington post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Big Creek (1824) and Lucy (1874), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 554 in 19102020 census: 10,582147 years

How historic is Millington?

C−

More historic than 18% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Millington’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Millington is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #151 of 177 in Tennessee. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Millington’s overall grade.
Founding era1879, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.0% of homes (±3.0) · typical TN town 4.9% · U.S. 8.4%CNational 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 18%
NewerOlder
Tennessee towns of 2,500+ (177)Ahead of 15%

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 Millington’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 D to C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.0 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 Millington’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Boom and bustPeaked at 21,177 in 1970; 10,582 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Millington, and 1 old place names are still on the map.A town in old photos13 old photos, postcards and papers, 1940–1980.Famous sons and daughtersGreg Hardy, Sylvester Gray and 7 more were born here.
★ What stands out · People over time

Millington, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 21,177

Peaked at 21,177 in 1970; 10,582 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Millington’s post office has been open since 1879. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Big Creek
1824–1866
Lucy
1874–1953
Millington
1879–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Lucy
Gone or out of use
Coins StorelocaleMission Bible ChurchchurchMount Olive Methodist Churchchurch
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Millington
Big CreekRembertsUnionWest Canaan

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

By decade

Millington, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1940s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s12 items
Trailer camp for construction workers at powder plant. Millington, Tennessee1940Trailer camp for construction workers at powder plant…Advertisement of department store on road into Memphis from Millington, Tennessee, where powder plant is under construc…1940Advertisement of department store on road into Memphi…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Advertisement of department store on road into Memphis from Millington, Tennessee,…1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Advertisement of…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Advertisement of department store on road into Memphis from Millington, Tennessee,…1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Advertisement of…Unpicked cotton lying in field in front of billboard offering to cash powder plant paychecks. Many, who in other years …1940Unpicked cotton lying in field in front of billboard …Unpicked cotton lying in field in front of billboard offering to cash powder plant paychecks. Many, who in other years …1940Unpicked cotton lying in field in front of billboard …Unpicked cotton lying in the field in front of billboard offering to cash powder plant paychecks. Many who in other yea…1940Unpicked cotton lying in the field in front of billbo…A humorous--and positive--approach to the problem of absenteeism is presented in this poster used by the production dri…1940A humorous--and positive--approach to the problem of …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unpicked cotton lying in the field in front of billboard offering to cash powder p…1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unpicked cotton …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unpicked cotton lying in the field in front of billboard offering to cash powder p…1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unpicked cotton …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unpicked cotton lying in the field in front of billboard offering to cash powder p…1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unpicked cotton …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unpicked cotton lying in the field in front of billboard offering to cash powder p…1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Unpicked cotton …
1950s–1970snothing 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
1980s1 item
The homes of African-Americans, some of whom are employees at the powder plantin Millington, Tn. The rent which had bee…1980The homes of African-Americans, some of whom are empl…
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
Today4 recent
Millington Family YMCA2010Millington Family YMCABakerCommunityCenter2010BakerCommunityCenterUntitled photo2010Untitled photoMillington Mayor Terry Jones, TNSG2008Millington Mayor Terry Jones, TNSG
The story

How Millington came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Millington.

Read it all →

The book Millington, the First Hundred Years by Faye Ellis Osteen (compiled of many stories that can not be proven fact or fiction, relies on individual witnesses and stories handed down by local families) and published by the Millington Centennial Committee outlines the history of Millington from its beginnings to the present. In 1878, Mr. and Mrs. George Millington donated a large area of land to a group of settlers for the purpose of starting a town.Mr. Millington requested that the new town be named in his honor. In 1888, the First Baptist Church was founded.It has over 5000 members. Its church is one of the largest buildings in Millington. In 1890, the first industry came to town. Since that time, job growth has been sporadic and unfocused. Millington was officially chartered by the State of Tennessee in 1903. In 1917 the US military began its initial presence in Millington. Park F…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Millington, 1824 to 1993

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1824Post officeThe Big Creek post office opens
  3. 1866Post officeThe Big Creek post office closes
  4. 1874Post officeThe Lucy post office opens
  5. 1879Post officeThe Millington post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1940In the archiveTrailer camp for construction workers at powder plant. Millington, Tennessee
  8. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1953Post officeThe Lucy post office closes
  10. 1967Born hereSylvester Gray is born here
  11. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 21,177
  12. 1980In the archiveThe homes of African-Americans, some of whom are employees at the powder plantin Millingt…
  13. 1988Born hereGreg Hardy is born here
  14. 1993Born hereGeorge Odum is born here
On the map

Millington on the map, 1942 to 1993

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

Millington on the 1942 USGS mapMillington on the 1960 USGS mapMillington on the 1971 USGS mapMillington on the 1983 USGS mapMillington on the 1993 USGS map1942Millington sheet · 1:62,500

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

Every building

Millington, building by building, 1930

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Millington fire insurance map, 1930, sheet 11930Sheet 1 of 3
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Trailer camp for construction workers at powder plant. Millington, Tennessee
Retake this viewTrailer camp for construction workers at powder plant. Millington, Tennessee, 1940

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

9 famous people were born in Millington

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

See all →
Greg HardyAmerican football player · b. 1988
S
Sylvester GrayAmerican basketball player · b. 1967
George OdumAmerican football player · b. 1993
A
Adam C. JohnsonAmerican Capitol rioter
A
Ahmaad GallowayAmerican football player · b. 1980
Alan CrossAmerican football player · b. 1993
Help out

Finish Millington’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewTrailer camp for construction workers a…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Millington’s history

What year was Millington founded?

The Millington post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Millington rank for history?

Millington is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #151 of 177 in Tennessee. 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 Millington?

4% of Millington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.0 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1972.

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), the Library of Congress (12), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.