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History · Mitchellville

Mitchellville’s post office opened in 1837, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1920.

1837first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Mitchellville began

When was Mitchellville founded?

1837

The Mitchellville post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 161 in 19202020 census: 163189 years
Founding year: the first Mitchellville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Mitchellville’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 Mitchellville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Mitchellville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mitchellville’s collection

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

From Wikipedia’s history of Mitchellville.

Read it all →

Mitchellville began with the establishment of a 200-acre (81 ha) farm by Ezekiel Marshall in 1814. The community that developed around the farm was originally known as Mitchell's Cross Roads after Hiram Mitchell, who owned land near the intersection of two early roads. With the arrival of the railroad in 1859, the name of the community was changed to Mitchellville Station. The city incorporated in 1909, and thrived as a railroad stop throughout the first half of the 20th century. The city began to decline as rail traffic decreased in the 1950s, however, and never fully recovered from a destructive tornado in 1955.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Mitchellville, decade by decade

Today7 recent
Mitchellville-park-tn12016Mitchellville-park-tn1Mitchellville-State-Bank-tn12016Mitchellville-State-Bank-tn1Mitchellville-RR-tracks-tn12016Mitchellville-RR-tracks-tn1Mitchellville-Main-Street-tn12016Mitchellville-Main-Street-tn1Mitchellville-First-Baptist-Church-tn12016Mitchellville-First-Baptist-Church-tn1Mitchellville-City-Hall-tn12016Mitchellville-City-Hall-tn1Mitchellville-Church-Street-tn12016Mitchellville-Church-Street-tn1
On the map

Mitchellville on the map, 1951 to 1994

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

Mitchellville on the 1951 USGS mapMitchellville on the 1968 USGS mapMitchellville on the 1982 USGS mapMitchellville on the 1994 USGS map1951Franklin 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 Mitchellville.

People over time

Mitchellville, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 216

Between 161 and 216 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Mitchellville

Nobody well known was born in Mitchellville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Huell HowserAmerican television personality · b. 1945
Corey BrewerAmerican basketball player · b. 1986
Tennys SandgrenAmerican tennis player · b. 1991
John RoganSecond tallest person ever recorded · b. 1865
Terrence W. WilcuttAmerican astronaut · b. 1949
Harry B. GrayAmerican chemist · b. 1935
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Mitchellville’s post office has been open since 1837.

Gone or out of use
Mitchellville Schoolschool

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

Questions about Mitchellville’s history

What year was Mitchellville founded?

The Mitchellville post office opened in 1837, 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 (7), Wikipedia, 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.