Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Orebank

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
–Not graded
History · Orebank

Orebank’s post office opened in 1891

Most of Orebank was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985.

1891first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Orebank began

When was Orebank founded?

1891

The Orebank post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ore Bank (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 929135 years
Founding year: the first Orebank post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

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

Start Orebank’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Orebank’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 so far

Orebank, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Orebank yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Orebank is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sullivan County, Tennessee. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. It is in the northwest part of the county, bordered to the north, west, and south by the city of Kingsport. It sits on a topographic bench between Chestnut Ridge to the south and the valley of Reedy Creek to the north. Reedy Creek is a west-flowing tributary of the South Fork of the Holston River, part of the Tennessee River watershed. Orebank Road is the main street through the community, leading west into Kingsport. Downtown Kingsport is 6 miles (10 km) west of Orebank.

Its first post office opened in 1891.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
Famous people

Famous people close to Orebank

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

See all →
Jayma MaysAmerican actress · b. 1979
Tennessee Ernie FordAmerican recording artist and television host n… · b. 1919
Jeremy Ray TaylorAmerican actor · b. 2003
Maybelle CarterAmerican country musician · b. 1909
O
Ollan CassellAmerican sprinter · b. 1936
Mac McClungAmerican basketball player · b. 1999
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Ore Bank, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Orebank Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Orebank
Gaines

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Kingsport20 historic placesB+

Questions about Orebank’s history

What year was Orebank founded?

The Orebank post office opened in 1891, 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 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.