Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Garner was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1980.
The Garner post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Garner Station (1872) and Paxson (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Garner’s history is told.
Peaked at 284 in 2000; 211 people lived here in 2020.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Garner’s Wikipedia page.
Garner’s post office has been open since 1889. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Garner yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Garner is a town in White County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Garner had a population of 211.
Its first post office opened in 1889. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 284 to 211 (-26%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Garner. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Garner.
Nobody well known was born in Garner itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Garner post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 (3), 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.
2016
2016
2005
