Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Luke · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Cotton Plant was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 19 buildings. Below: maps from 1908 on and the census since 1880.
The Cotton Plant post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1887.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cotton Plant’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,838 in 1950; 529 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cotton Plant’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1908Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cotton Plant.
In 1820, when settlers from neighboring states first came to the Cotton Plant area, it was covered in dense timber and cane. As a small town began to take shape at the site of present-day Cotton Plant, those settlers initially named their community Richmond.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2026Real cotton
2007Mobil
2007Cotton Plant Presbyterian church
2007Cotton Plant Commercial Historic District, Arkansas
2007Cotton Plant ARK Disco & Restaurant
2007Cotton Plant ARK - John Deere City Hall
2007Cotton Plant AK Pop. 960
2007Cotton Plant AK Pop. 960 (cropped)
2007Club Dirty Redd
2007City of
2007Allen's Grocery
2005ARMap-doton-Cotton PlantThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cotton Plant.
1986Searcy sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cotton Plant.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Cotton Plant post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1887.
Two places: the Cotton Plant Water Tower (listed 2008) and the Cotton Plant Commercial Historic District (2008).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (2), 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), 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.
