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Saulsbury fields, May 2019Photo: Chase Via · CC BY-SA 4.0
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History · Saulsbury

Saulsbury was first counted by the census in 1860, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1952 on and the census since 1860.

1860first census
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Chase Via · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Saulsbury began

When was Saulsbury founded?

1860

Saulsbury first appears in the census in 1860. Another post office, Salisbury (1855), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 337 in 18602020 census: 112166 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Saulsbury’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 Saulsbury are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 400 in 1870; 112 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Saulsbury’s collection

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

Saulsbury, census by census

0100200300400190019502000Peak: 400

Peaked at 400 in 1870; 112 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

The story

How Saulsbury came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Saulsbury.

Read it all →

Saulsbury's historical roots stem from a former settlement named Berlin, Tennessee, which was located one mile south of the current location of Saulsbury. Two regional mail roads—one from Bolivar to Ripley, Mississippi, and another from LaGrange to Corinth, Mississippi. These mail roads met at an intersection which would form into a trading center. In 1839 a post office was established there, and Berlin would be incorporated in 1846, and within five years it would be home to 351 people. Upon the completion of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, Berlin was bypassed due to one landowner's refusal to sell their property to the railroad. A track was instead laid one mile north of Berlin, on land that was owned by Burrell Sauls and Berry Futrell. The finished railroad station and track would be called Sauls-Berry Depot. Eventually Berlin would be deserted as people moved to the new settleme…

ChaptersCivil War1999 Tornado

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Saulsbury, 1855 to 1952

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Salisbury post office opens
  3. 1869Post officeThe Salisbury post office closes
  4. 1869Post officeThe Saulsbury post office opens
  5. 1870CensusPopulation peaks at 400
  6. 20th century
  7. 1917Born hereVernon Jarrett is born here
  8. 1952On 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.

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

Saulsbury on the map, 1952 to 1980

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

Saulsbury on the 1952 USGS mapSaulsbury on the 1980 USGS map1952Saulsbury 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 Saulsbury.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Saulsbury’s post office has been open since 1869. Another post office, Salisbury, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Salisbury
1855–1869
Saulsbury
1869–today
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Saulsbury Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Saulsbury
Saulsbury

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

Questions about Saulsbury’s history

What year was Saulsbury founded?

The Saulsbury post office opened in 1860, 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 Wikipedia, 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.