Do you know of Selma ???
This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Selma. When we encounter a name that is new to us, we add it to our Gazetteer with the hope that we'll discover more information in the future. Such is the case with Selma.
Our sources for Selma (see Mentions and References below) indicate that it was a community with a post office by the same name. Unfortunately our sources aren't clear about the location of Selma other than they indicate that Selma would be found somewhere in Wayne County, Iowa.
From the Blevins / Hellbock List: The post office opened in 1866 and closed in 1878.
This entry could have originated in error. It might be that a source had a misprint, was simply wrong or we made a transcription error while referencing it. Many of the documents we reference are from the 1800s and the early 1900s, with some easier to read than others.
Part of the difficulty in identifying whether a name is a post office or a community lies with how Post Offices were named. We've prepared an article with our understanding of how post offices were named: Naming of Post Offices.
Communities Also Named Selma ...
We found 31 communities that share the name Selma.
There is one other community in Iowa which is also named Selma.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another 30 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 30 communities, 30 are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In Iowa ...
- Van Buren County
- Please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Selma [Van Buren County].
- Van Buren County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Dallas County
- Please visit our profile page for the Alabama community of Selma [Dallas County].
- Arkansas
- Drew County
- Please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Selma [Drew County].
- California
- Fresno County
- Please visit our profile page for the California community of Selma [Fresno County].
- Colorado
- Logan County
- Please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Selma [Logan County].
- Florida
- Hillsborough County
- Please visit our profile page for the Florida community of Selma [Hillsborough County].
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Delaware County
- Please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Selma [Delaware County].
- Kansas
- Anderson County
- Please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Selma [Anderson County].
- Geary County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Selma [Geary County].
- Osborne County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Selma [Osborne County].
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Grant Parish
- Please visit our profile page for the Louisiana community of Selma [Grant Parish].
- Michigan
- Marquette County
- Please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Selma [Marquette County].
- Wexford County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Selma [Wexford County].
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Adams County
- Please visit our profile page for the Mississippi community of Selma [Adams County].
- Missouri
- Montana
- Liberty County
- Please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Selma [Liberty County].
- North Carolina
- Johnston County
- Please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Selma [Johnston County].
- Nova Scotia
- Please visit our profile page for the Nova Scotia community of Selma.
- Ohio
- Clark County
- Please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Selma [Clark County].
- Oregon
- Josephine County
- Please visit our profile page for the Oregon community of Selma [Josephine County].
- South Carolina
- Dillon County
- Please visit our profile page for the South Carolina community of Selma [Dillon County].
- Texas
- Utah
- Salt Lake County
- Please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Selma [Salt Lake County].
- Virginia
- Alabama
Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Selma ...
We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about Selma:
Found in a comprehensive list of Post Offices that was created by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<2>
Article: Index to Abandoned Towns of Iowa
Taken from The Annals of Iowa (Volume 18, Issue 3 - Winter 1932)
Written by: Mott, David C.
List of Post Offices in the United States (1870)
Published by the Government Printing Office
SPV's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - Prairies East & Ozarks
Written by: Walker, Mike
Published by Steam Powered Video (SPV), 2004
(Available from Amazon.com)
More Orphans in Wayne County ...
Can you help?
As we explained above, when we encounter a name that might be a community or a post office we add it to our Gazetteer. If we have little information to go with the name, we call them Orphans. Below are Orphans that we believe to be located in Wayne County.
| Bentonville | Lewisburgh |
| Bethlehem | Lucerne |
| Buda | |
| Orlando | |
| Kniffin | |
| Warsaw |
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Selma could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <2> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |