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History · Trimble

Trimble’s post office opened in 1873, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1890.

1873first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Trimble began

When was Trimble founded?

1873

The Trimble post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1905.

First census: 428 in 18902020 census: 547153 years
Founding year: the first Trimble post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1905.The full story ↓

What stands out about Trimble’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 Trimble are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 781 in 1920; 547 people lived here in 2020.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1894 to 1914, drew every building in Trimble.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Trimble’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Trimble’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

Trimble, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 781

Peaked at 781 in 1920; 547 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Every building

Trimble, building by building, 1894–1914

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Trimble fire insurance map, 1894, sheet 11894Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Trimble came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Trimble.

Read it all →

The town was first settled in 1873 on land owned by local Jesse Pierce. By the end of the year, a saloon was in operation, operated by Gammons & Fowlkes. The following year, the town was named Trimble Station, when the Paducah & Memphis Railroad extended its line from Troy Station, TN south to the Dyer County line. Construction of this extension was completed on May 15, 1874. The line was not extended south to Dyersburg until June of 1882 by the Chesapeake, Ohio, & Southwestern Railroad, a predecessor of the Newport News & Mississippi Valley Railroad and the Illinois Central Railroad.

In 1884, a school named Trimble Academy was chartered in the town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Trimble, 1873 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Trimble post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 781
  5. 1965On 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.
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On the map

Trimble on the map, 1965 to 1983

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

Trimble on the 1965 USGS mapTrimble on the 1983 USGS map1965Trimble 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 Trimble.

Famous people

Famous people close to Trimble

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

See all →
Carl PerkinsAmerican guitarist · b. 1932
Hayden WhiteAmerican historian · b. 1928
John S. TannerAmerican politician · b. 1944
Koko B. WareAmerican professional wrestler · b. 1957
Cary MiddlecoffAmerican professional golfer · b. 1921
Peter Matthew Hillsman TaylorAmerican writer · b. 1917

Questions about Trimble’s history

What year was Trimble founded?

The Trimble post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1905.

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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.