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History · Rives

Rives’ post office opened in 1877

Most of Rives was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1880.

1877first post office
0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Quick answers

How Rives began

When was Rives founded?

1877

The Rives post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 180 in 18802020 census: 246149 years
Founding year: the first Rives post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rives’ 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 Rives are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 495 in 1920; 246 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rives’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rives’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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People over time

Rives, census by census

010020030040050018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 495

Peaked at 495 in 1920; 246 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Rives, in brief

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

Rives is a town in Obion County, Tennessee. The population was 312 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Union City, TN–KY Micropolitan Statistical Area. Located just south of Union City, Rives was originally known as Troy Station. Settlers from South Carolina first came to the area in the 1820's and by the 1850's the town was flourishing because of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Rives has a rich railroad history and at one time the town had several hotels to serve the passenger trains that traveled the area.

Its first post office opened in 1877. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 326 to 246 (-25%).

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

Timeline

Rives, 1877 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Rives post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 495
  5. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

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On the map

Rives on the map, 1950 to 1980

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

Rives on the 1950 USGS mapRives on the 1980 USGS map1950Rives 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 Rives.

Famous people

Famous people close to Rives

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

See all →
Carl PerkinsAmerican guitarist · b. 1932
Hayden WhiteAmerican historian · b. 1928
Koko B. WareAmerican professional wrestler · b. 1957
Clifton Bledsoe CatesUnited States Marine Corps · b. 1893
Ned McWherterGovernor of Tennessee & Speaker of the Tennesse… · b. 1930
P
Popeye JonesAmerican basketball player · b. 1970

Questions about Rives’ history

What year was Rives founded?

The Rives post office opened in 1877, 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 →
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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 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.