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Tellico-Plains-town-square-tnPhoto: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
–Not graded
History · Tellico Plains

Tellico Plains’ post office opened in 1820, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Scott Mansion. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1934 on, and the census since 1920.

1820first post office
1on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Tellico Plains’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Tellico Plains began

When was Tellico Plains founded?

1820

The Tellico Plains post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1911.

First census: 1,220 in 19202020 census: 762206 years
Founding year: the first Tellico Plains post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1911.The full story ↓

What stands out about Tellico Plains’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1820: 206 years of Tellico Plains.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tellico Plains’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewView of Tellico Plains, Tennessee, USA,…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Tellico Plains, 1820 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1820Post officeThe Tellico Plains post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1934On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1938In the archiveView of Tellico Plains, Tennessee, USA, in 1938
  6. 1940In the archivePanorama from heights above Telico Plains
The story

How Tellico Plains came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tellico Plains.

Read it all →

The area along the Tellico River was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous peoples. The historic Muscogee settled here, before moving further south. In the late 18th century, the Cherokee settled in this area, displaced from the east and north by European colonial encroachment.

A United States fur trade factory was situated here between 1795 and 1807.

Tellico Plains occupies the former site of the Cherokee town of Great Tellico, which was one of the more important towns of the Overhill Cherokee during the late 18th century and before Indian Removal of the 1830s. Two important Native American trails met at Great Tellico, the Trading Path and the Warrior Path, which connected farflung communities.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Tellico Plains, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s–1940s2 items
View of Tellico Plains, Tennessee, USA, in 19381938View of Tellico Plains, Tennessee, USA, in 1938Panorama from heights above Telico Plains1940Panorama from heights above Telico Plains
1950s–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
Today10 recent
A gate and wayside mark an entry point at the entrance of a retracement trail on the Unicoi Turnpike Trail at2015A gate and wayside mark an entry point at the entranc…A curvy trail near2015A curvy trail nearXylaria magnoliae 3357852013Xylaria magnoliae 335785Xylaria magnoliae (335787)2013Xylaria magnoliae (335787)Xylaria magnoliae (335786)2013Xylaria magnoliae (335786)Tellico-plains-tn12013Tellico-plains-tn1Tellico-plains-from-school-tn12013Tellico-plains-from-school-tn1Hay-bales-tellico-plains-tn12013Hay-bales-tellico-plains-tn1Tellico River2009Tellico RiverGreat-tellico-plains-tennessee2006Great-tellico-plains-tennessee
On the map

Tellico Plains on the map, 1934 to 2003

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

Tellico Plains on the 1934 USGS mapTellico Plains on the 1943 USGS mapTellico Plains on the 1957 USGS mapTellico Plains on the 1978 USGS mapTellico Plains on the 2003 USGS map1934Tellico Plains 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 Tellico Plains.

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.

View of Tellico Plains, Tennessee, USA, in 1938
Retake this viewView of Tellico Plains, Tennessee, USA, in 1938, 1938

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Tellico Plains

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1993
Scott Mansion
Scott Mansion
Buildings
All 1 listings
Scott MansionBuilding · listed 1993

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Tellico Plains, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,220

Between 657 and 1,220 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Tellico Plains’s post office has been open since 1820.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Jacktown
Gone or out of use
Tellico Iron Workslocale
1cemetery inside Tellico Plains
Tellico Plains

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

Questions about Tellico Plains’ history

What year was Tellico Plains founded?

The Tellico Plains post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1911.

What is on the National Register in Tellico Plains?

One place: the Scott Mansion (listed 1993).

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 Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.