RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Straven ...

Straven is located in Shelby County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Straven, you might consider that their post office opened in 1903.

Straven is 510 feet [155 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: Straven lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Straven: 205 & 659<3>

Communities near Straven ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Straven.

  • Hoover
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Hoover is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoover
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 85,959 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hoover <4>
  • Vestavia Hills
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Alabaster
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Bessemer
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Homewood
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • Pelham
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Helena
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
  • Calera
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Hueytown
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Chelsea
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Straven. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Straven.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Straven. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Straven.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Straven. See our Newspapers Page for Straven.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Straven ...

Looking for more information about Straven? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Straven, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Straven.

Adding Straven to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Straven in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Straven was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Straven post office opened in 1903. The Straven post office closed in 1942.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Straven.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Alabama's counties, including Shelby, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Straven - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 205 code has been Overlayed with the 659 area code. New phone numbers in the Straven area will be assigned with one of these codes: 205 or 659. As a result, placing a call in the Straven area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/