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History · Canehill

Canehill’s post office opened in 1829, and 15 of its places are on the National Register

Below: 12 old photos and papers and maps from 1970 on.

1829first post office
15on the National Register
12old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Canehill’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Canehill began

When was Canehill founded?

1829

The Canehill post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1839. Three smaller post offices, Cane Hill (1829), Steam Mill (1839) and Boonsboro (1843), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 74197 years
Founding year: the first Canehill post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1839.The full story ↓

What stands out about Canehill’s past

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

Landmarks on the Register15 places on the National Register.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Canehill.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers.Deep rootsA post office since 1829: 197 years of Canehill.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

15 historic places in Canehill

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
15
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
20
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
A. R. Carroll Building
A. R. Carroll BuildingBlackburn HouseCanehill CemeteryCanehill College Building, built 1834D. N. Edmiston HouseE. W. McClellan HouseEarle HouseJohn Edmiston HouseMethodist ManseMoore HousePyeatte Mill SiteUnited Presbyterian Church of CanehillZeb Edmiston HouseHenry Pyeatte HouseWilliam Welch House
BuildingsSites
A. R. Carroll BuildingBuilding
Blackburn HouseBuilding
Canehill CemeterySite
Canehill College BuildingBuilt 1834
D. N. Edmiston HouseBuilding
E. W. McClellan HouseBuilding
Earle HouseBuilding
John Edmiston HouseBuilding
All 15 listings
Methodist ManseBuilding · listed 1982Moore HouseBuilding · listed 1982Pyeatte Mill SiteSite · listed 1982United Presbyterian Church of CanehillBuilding · listed 1982Zeb Edmiston HouseBuilding · listed 1982Henry Pyeatte HouseBuilding · listed 1982William Welch HouseBuilding · listed 1982

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Canehill’s post office has been open since 1901. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cane Hill
1829–1868
Steam Mill
1839–1843
Boonsboro
1843–1901
Canehill
1901–today
18201920today
Gone or out of use
Cane Hill Collegeschool
1cemetery inside Canehill
Canehill

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

By decade

Canehill, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s12 items
HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 5 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 5 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 5 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 5 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 6 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 6 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 6 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 6 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 7 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 7 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 7 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 451933HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 7 of 9) - Cane Hill Presb…
1940s–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
The story

How Canehill came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Canehill.

Read it all →

In 1834, the Cumberland Presbyterians established the first collegiate learning institute in Arkansas, naming it the Cane Hill School, after a nearby geological feature. The current Post Office was opened in 1839 and was originally unnamed. In 1843, it was named Boonsboro, and the town maintained this name throughout the American Civil War. The year of 1862 brought the Battle of Cane Hill.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Canehill, 1829 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1829Post officeThe Cane Hill post office opens
  3. 1832Born hereJ. P. Carnahan is born here
  4. 1834BuiltCanehill College Building is built
  5. 1839Post officeThe Steam Mill post office opens
  6. 1843Post officeThe Steam Mill post office closes
  7. 1843Post officeThe Boonsboro post office opens
  8. 1868Post officeThe Cane Hill post office closes
  9. 20th century
  10. 1901Post officeThe Boonsboro post office closes
  11. 1933In the archiveHABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 45
  12. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Canehill on the map in 1970

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Canehill.

Canehill on the 1970 USGS map1970Lincoln sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Canehill.

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.

HABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 45
Retake this viewHABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Cane Hill Presbyterian Church, State Highway 45, 1933

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Canehill’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHABS ARK,72-CAHIL,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - C…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Canehill’s history

What year was Canehill founded?

The Canehill post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1839.

What is on the National Register in Canehill?

15 listings: 13 buildings, among them the A. R. Carroll Building (listed 1982, the first), and 2 sites. 20 historic buildings in all.

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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (15), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.