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DHistory
History · Bono

Bono’s post office opened in 1884

More historic than 12% of U.S. towns · #102 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it

Most of Bono was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1999. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1930.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bono’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bono began

When was Bono founded?

1884

The Bono post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1916.

First census: 209 in 19302020 census: 2,409142 years

How historic is Bono?

D

More historic than 12% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Bono post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1916.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Bono’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bono is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #102 of 123 in Arkansas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bono’s overall grade.
Founding era1884, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.0% of homes (±1.2) · typical AR town 3.1% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical AR town 20.5 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 12%
NewerOlder
Arkansas towns of 2,500+ (123)Ahead of 17%

Arkansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Arkansas town has 20.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bono’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (11% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1916.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Bono’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bono’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bono’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFlag of: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Bono came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bono.

Read it all →

Prior to European American settlement, northeast Arkansas was home to several indigenous communities, these included a Delaware village, as well as scattered Shawnee and Cherokee homesteaders. After the New Madrid earthquakes, existing communities were forced westward.

American settlement began in 1837, when John Anderson and his son established the Big Creek Township. At the time the homestead was solely agricultural and part of Greene County, and remained so until its incorporation into the newly formed Craighead County in 1859.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bono, 1884 to 1986

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Bono post office opens
  3. 1891Born hereRoy Penix is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1986In the archiveFlag of
By decade

Bono, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s1 item
Flag of1986Flag of
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today11 recent
Bono AR 0102011Bono AR 010Bono AR 0092011Bono AR 009Bono AR 0082011Bono AR 008Bono AR 0072011Bono AR 007Bono AR 0062011Bono AR 006Bono AR 0052011Bono AR 005Bono AR 0042011Bono AR 004Bono AR 0032011Bono AR 003Bono AR 0022011Bono AR 002Bono AR 0012011Bono AR 001ARMap-doton-Bono2005ARMap-doton-Bono
On the map

Bono on the map, 1935 to 1980

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

Bono on the 1935 USGS mapBono on the 1959 USGS mapBono on the 1960 USGS mapBono on the 1980 USGS map1935Sedgwick 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 Bono.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Flag of
Retake this viewFlag of, 1986

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bono’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Bono, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,500194019601980200020202,409

Grew from 209 people in 1930 to 2,409 in 2020, more than tenfold.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Questions about Bono’s history

What year was Bono founded?

The Bono post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1916.

How does Bono rank for history?

Bono is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns, #102 of 123 in Arkansas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Bono?

1% of Bono’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1999.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.