Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Pegram

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 · Pegram

Pegram’s post office opened in 1882

More historic than 19% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Pegram was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1930 on, and the census since 1980.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pegram’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Pegram began

When was Pegram founded?

1882

The Pegram post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Peagram's Station (1866), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,081 in 19802020 census: 2,072144 years

How historic is Pegram?

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 Pegram post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Pegram’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pegram is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pegram’s overall grade.
Founding era1882, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.4% of homes (±4.0) · 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 19%
NewerOlder

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 Pegram’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 (±4.0 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 Pegram’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.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pegram’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBillboards: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Pegram, in brief

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

Pegram is a town completely in Cheatham County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,072. It was the backdrop in the movie “Ruth and Boaz.”

Its first post office opened in 1882. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,093 in 2010, 2,072 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Pegram, 1866 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1866Post officeThe Peagram's Station post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Peagram's Station post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Pegram post office opens
  5. 1897Born hereHorace McCoy is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1930On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1979In the archiveBillboards
By decade

Pegram, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s1 item
Billboards1979Billboards
1980s–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
Today1 recent
Pegram, Tennessee Countryside2024Pegram, Tennessee Countryside
On the map

Pegram on the map, 1930 to 1984

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

Pegram on the 1930 USGS mapPegram on the 1966 USGS mapPegram on the 1984 USGS map1930White Bluff 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 Pegram.

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.

Billboards
Retake this viewBillboards, 1979

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Pegram, census by census

05001,0001,5002,000198020002020Peak: 2,146

Between 1,081 and 2,146 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Pegram’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Peagram's Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Peagram's Station
1866–1882
Pegram
1882–today
18601940today

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.

Kingston Springs1 historic placeC+Nashville194 historic placesB+

Questions about Pegram’s history

What year was Pegram founded?

The Pegram post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Pegram rank for history?

Pegram is more historic than 19% of U.S. towns. 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 Pegram?

4% of Pegram’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1990.

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 (2), 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.