Most of Danville was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1880.
The Danville post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Monrovia (1837), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 200 in 18802020 census: 2,028184 years
How historic is Danville?
C
More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Danville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Danville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Danville is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Danville’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 Danville’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (11% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±3.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Danville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
After Yell County was created in 1840, local commissioners met to select a site for the county seat, settling on what is now Danville as the best location. The city was laid out in December 1841 by James Briggs, James Williams, and Nerick Morse. The home of William Peevy in Monrovia, a few miles north of Danville, was used as a temporary county seat in the interim. The city was named after the steamboat Danville, which plied the Petit Jean River in the 1840s. A log courthouse was constructed at Danville in 1844, though this was replaced by a frame building by 1850. A Masonic lodge was organized in Danville in the late 1840s. The number of creeks in the area led to the construction of numerous water power mills around Danville.
The Danville post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Danville rank for history?
Danville is more historic than 34% 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.
How old are the homes in Danville?
4% of Danville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.0 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1983.
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), 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) 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.
Date?
2026
2026
2005