Most of Bull Shoals was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 13 buildings. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Bull Shoals post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1954.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bull Shoals’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bull Shoals is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bull Shoals’ overall grade.
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 Bull Shoals’ 83.4 sits above most of its state (82% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 14 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±2.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1954 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Bull Shoals’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was created by real estate developers C. S. Woods and C. S. Woods Jr. and was officially established in 1954. Bull Shoals Dam is the threshold into the town from the southeast.
Bull Shoals Dam and the town of Bull Shoals developed together. The developers bought several tracts of the former Newton Flat settlement when they learned that the government planned to build a flood-control and power-generating concrete dam at the site. Construction of the dam took four years, from 1947 to 1951, resulting in one of the largest dams built in the nation at that time.
The Bull Shoals post office opened in 1949, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1954.
How does Bull Shoals rank for history?
Bull Shoals is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Bull Shoals?
Three places: the William Jasper Johnson House (listed 2018), the Mountain Village 1890 (2023) and the Big Spring (2025).
How old are the homes in Bull Shoals?
2% of Bull Shoals’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, 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.
