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C+History
History · Flippin

Flippin’s post office opened in 1878, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Flippin was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Its Register listing is the Flippin City Jail. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1972 on, and the census since 1930.

1878first post office
1on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Flippin’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Flippin began

When was Flippin founded?

1878

The Flippin post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 325 in 19302020 census: 1,345148 years

How historic is Flippin?

C+

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Flippin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Flippin’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Flippin is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Flippin’s overall grade.
Founding era1878, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19407.6% of homes (±3.9) · typical AR town 3.1% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register1 listing, 7.5 per 10,000 residents · typical AR town 20.5 · U.S. 2.4C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 35%
NewerOlder

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 Flippin’s 7.5 sits near the middle of its state (39% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±3.9 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 Flippin’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1950 and 1960, then grew 3-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Flippin’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewFlippin FLP: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Flippin, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,40019401960198020002020646 in 1950Low: 433

Lost a third of its people between 1950 and 1960, then grew 3-fold.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Flippin’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Flippin, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Flippin yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Flippin is a city in Marion County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,345 at the 2020 census. The city was named for the Thomas H. Flippin family and was incorporated in 1921. The Thomas H. Flippin Chapter of the Arkansas State Society, National Society United States Daughters of 1812, was named for the military service of SGT Thomas H.Flippin of Captain Hugh Brown’s Company, 1st Regiment, Kentucky Mounted Militia during the War of 1812.

Its first post office opened in 1878. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,355 in 2010, 1,345 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Flippin, 1878 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Flippin post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 1,357
By decade

Flippin, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Flippin FLPDate?Flippin FLP
Today6 recent
The main crosswalk in downtown2015The main crosswalk in downtownThe Flippin School District Community Garden in Flippin, AR2015The Flippin School District Community Garden in Flipp…The Flippin School District Community Garden in Flippin, AR2015The Flippin School District Community Garden in Flipp…Sign outside of city hall in downtown Flippin advertising local events2015Sign outside of city hall in downtown Flippin adverti…Existing signage in downtown2015Existing signage in downtownWhite River Arkansas-12006White River Arkansas-1
On the map

Flippin on the map, 1972 to 1980

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Flippin. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Flippin on the 1972 USGS mapFlippin on the 1980 USGS map1972Cotter 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 Flippin.

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.

Flippin FLP
Retake this viewFlippin FLP

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Flippin

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2023
Flippin City Jail
Flippin City Jail
Buildings
All 1 listings
Flippin City JailBuilding · listed 2023

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

Questions about Flippin’s history

What year was Flippin founded?

The Flippin post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Flippin rank for history?

Flippin is more historic than 35% 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 Flippin?

One place: the Flippin City Jail (listed 2023).

How old are the homes in Flippin?

8% of Flippin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1981.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.