Most of Carlisle was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listings are the Carlisle Rock Island Depot, the Dairyman's Bank Building and the Bank of Carlisle. Below: maps from 1909 on and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Carlisle post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1878.
History grade
What drives Carlisle’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Carlisle is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Carlisle’s 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 Carlisle’s 13.5 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1878 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 Carlisle’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Carlisle yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Carlisle is a city in Lonoke County, Arkansas, United States. It is the easternmost municipality within the Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area. Carlisle was incorporated in 1878. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 2,033.
Its first post office opened in 1873. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,214 to 2,033 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Carlisle, 1873 to 1987
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Carlisle. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1986Brinkley sheet · 1:100,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Carlisle.
Every building
Carlisle, building by building, 1909–1918
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1909Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the National Register
3 historic places in Carlisle
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
The Carlisle post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1878.
How does Carlisle rank for history?
Carlisle is more historic than 38% 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 Carlisle?
Three places: the Carlisle Rock Island Depot (listed 1990), the Dairyman's Bank Building (2019) and the Bank of Carlisle (2022).
How old are the homes in Carlisle?
6% of Carlisle’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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