Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Cotter

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Cotter

Cotter’s post office opened in 1903, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register.

1903first post office
4on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Cotter began

When was Cotter founded?

1903

The Cotter post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1905. Another post office, Egypt (1874), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 886123 years
Founding year: the first Cotter post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1905.The full story ↓

What stands out about Cotter’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Cotter are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cotter’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

4 historic places in Cotter

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

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1990
Cotter Bridge
Cotter Bridge, built 1930Cotter High School Gymnasium, OldCotter Water TowerCotter Tunnel
BuildingsStructures
Cotter BridgeBuilt 1930
Cotter High School Gymnasium, OldBuilding
Cotter Water TowerStructure
Cotter TunnelStructure

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

The story

How Cotter came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cotter.

Read it all →

Native American Bluff Dwellers were the original inhabitants of the area now known as Cotter for centuries before settlers arrived. When Native Americans were moved westward on the Trail of Tears, approximately 1000 Cherokees crossed just a short distance upriver from the current location of Downtown Cotter.

In 1819, Henry Schoolcraft was exploring the Ozarks and spent a night in the Cotter area. He said of the area,

ChaptersExploration and settlementWhite River LineExpulsion of African AmericansCotter BridgeFlooding

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cotter, 1874 to 1930

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Egypt post office opens
  3. 1876Post officeThe Egypt post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1903Post officeThe Cotter post office opens
  6. 1930BuiltCotter Bridge is built
By decade

Cotter, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Cotter, AR 0062016Cotter, AR 006Cotter, AR 0052016Cotter, AR 005Cotter, AR 0042016Cotter, AR 004Cotter, AR 0032016Cotter, AR 003Cotter, AR 0022016Cotter, AR 002Cotter Water Tower2015Cotter Water Tower
Famous people

Famous people close to Cotter

Nobody well known was born in Cotter itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Davis Tutt19th-century American Old West gambler · b. 1836
Carolyn D. WrightAmerican poet · b. 1949
Charles L. GillilandUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1933
J
Jesse Smith HenleyUnited States federal judge · b. 1917
R
Roy HogsedAmerican musician · b. 1919
Tava SmileyAmerican actress · b. 1971
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Cotter’s post office has been open since 1903. Another post office, Egypt, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Egypt
1874–1876
Cotter
1903–today
18701950today
1cemetery inside Cotter
Cotter

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

Questions about Cotter’s history

What year was Cotter founded?

The Cotter post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1905.

What is on the National Register in Cotter?

4 listings: 1 building and 3 structures.

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.