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History · Keokee

Keokee’s post office opened in 1906, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Keokee Store No. 1. Below: maps from 1922 on.

1906first post office
1on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Keokee began

When was Keokee founded?

1906

The Keokee post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Crab Orchard (1872) and Calvin (1924), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 330120 years
Founding year: the first Keokee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Keokee’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 Keokee are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Keokee, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Keokee’s homes were built before 1949.On the map since 19225 editions of the USGS map, 1922 to 1976. Watch Keokee change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Keokee’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Keokee’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Keokee’s post office has been open since 1906. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Crab Orchard
1872–1906
Keokee
1906–today
Calvin
1924–1955
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CalvinDarnell TownRawhide
1cemetery inside Keokee
Eden

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

The story

How Keokee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Keokee.

Read it all →

Keokee Store No. 1 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Keokee, 1872 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Crab Orchard post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1906Post officeThe Crab Orchard post office closes
  5. 1906Post officeThe Keokee post office opens
  6. 1922On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1924Post officeThe Calvin post office opens
  8. 1933Born hereJim Palmer is born here
  9. 1955Post officeThe Calvin post office closes
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

Keokee on the map, 1922 to 1976

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

Keokee on the 1922 USGS mapKeokee on the 1935 USGS mapKeokee on the 1955 USGS mapKeokee on the 1969 USGS mapKeokee on the 1976 USGS map1922Big Stone Gap 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 Keokee.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Keokee

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2007
Keokee Store No. 1
Keokee Store No. 1
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Craftsman1
Keokee Store No. 1Craftsman

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

Questions about Keokee’s history

What year was Keokee founded?

The Keokee post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Keokee?

One place: the Keokee Store No. 1 (listed 2007).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.