Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Monterey

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
C−History
History · Monterey

Monterey’s post office opened in 1893

More historic than 19% of U.S. towns · #150 of 177 in Tennessee. What drives it

Most of Monterey was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 1910.

1893first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Monterey began

When was Monterey founded?

1893

The Monterey post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Standing Stone (1877), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,107 in 19102020 census: 2,746133 years

How historic is Monterey?

C−

More historic than 19% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Monterey’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monterey is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #150 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 Monterey’s overall grade.
Founding era1893, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.6% of homes (±2.7) · 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 19%
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 Monterey’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 (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. 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 Monterey’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 Monterey are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Monterey’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Monterey’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
The story

How Monterey came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Monterey.

Read it all →

Monterey is rooted in a settlement that developed around a landmark known as the "Standing Stone" in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The stone was as a guidepost for travelers along Avery's Trace, and is believed to have earlier served as a boundary marker between the territories of the Cherokee and Shawnee. By 1805, three families had settled permanently in area, and the Standing Stone Inn was established to cater to westward-bound migrants.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Monterey, 1877 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Standing Stone post office opens
  3. 1893Post officeThe Standing Stone post office closes
  4. 1893Post officeThe Monterey post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Monterey, decade by decade

Today12 recent
Monterey-Elm-Depot-tn12016Monterey-Elm-Depot-tn1Monterey-Depot-tn12016Monterey-Depot-tn1Monterey-Commercial-Ave-tn12016Monterey-Commercial-Ave-tn1Imperial-Hotel-Monterey-tn12016Imperial-Hotel-Monterey-tn1East-Commercial-Avenue-Monterey-tn12016East-Commercial-Avenue-Monterey-tn1Commercial-Holly-intersection-Monterey-tn12016Commercial-Holly-intersection-Monterey-tn1Bank-of-Putnam-building-tn12016Bank-of-Putnam-building-tn1Bank-of-Monterey-tn12016Bank-of-Monterey-tn1Map of the country between Monterey, Tenn- and Corinth, Miss- showing the lines of entrenchments made and the routes fo…2011Map of the country between Monterey, Tenn- and Corint…MapGods gift2010Gods giftMontereystandingstone2007MontereystandingstoneMontereyhs2007Montereyhs
On the map

Monterey on the map, 1955 to 1980

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

Monterey on the 1955 USGS mapMonterey on the 1980 USGS map1955Monterey 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 Monterey.

People over time

Monterey, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,000192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,850

Between 1,107 and 2,850 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Monterey

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

See all →
JJ RedickAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1984
Julie Ann EmeryAmerican actress · b. 1975
Roger K. CrouchAmerican astronaut · b. 1940
Marjorie WeaverAmerican actress · b. 1913
M
Michael TurnerAmerican comic book artist · b. 1971
John W. RoseAmerican politician · b. 1965
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Monterey’s post office has been open since 1893. Another post office, Standing Stone, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Standing Stone
1877–1893
Monterey
1893–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Honeycutt EstatesStandingstone
1cemetery inside Monterey
Welch Memorial

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

Questions about Monterey’s history

What year was Monterey founded?

The Monterey post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Monterey rank for history?

Monterey is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns, #150 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 Monterey?

5% of Monterey’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 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 (12), 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.