Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Ruby

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Ruby

Ruby’s post office opened in 1903, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

1903first post office
0on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Ruby began

When was Ruby founded?

1903

The Ruby post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Arnold (1905), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 465123 years
Founding year: the first Ruby post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ruby’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 Ruby are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ruby’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ruby’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
The story

How Ruby came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ruby.

Read it all →

The area that would become the town of Ruby was first surveyed in 1852 by two crews working for the U.S. government. From September into October a crew marked all the section corners in the northern 6 miles (10 km) of the township, walking through the woods and slogging through the swamps on foot, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description of the northern 6-mile square:

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ruby, 1903 to 1934

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Ruby post office opens
  3. 1905Post officeThe Arnold post office opens
  4. 1920Post officeThe Ruby post office closes
  5. 1934Post officeThe Arnold post office closes
By decade

Ruby, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Town Hall2019Town Hall
Famous people

Famous people close to Ruby

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

See all →
Andy NorthAmerican golfer, PGA Tour member, U.S. Open cha… · b. 1950
G
Gary ReinekeCanadian actor · b. 1940
M
Mike MaslowskiAmerican football player · b. 1974
R
Roger D. CraigDeputy sheriff of Dallas, Texas · b. 1936
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Ruby had its own post office from 1903 to 1920. Another post office, Arnold, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Ruby
1903–1920
Arnold
1905–1934
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Arnold
Gone or out of use
Mayflower Schoolschool

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

PershingIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLake HolcombeIts storyCColburnIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMarshallIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEstellaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ruby’s history

What year was Ruby founded?

The Ruby post office opened in 1903, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.