Gentry’s post office opened in 1894, and 7 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns · #79 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Gentry was built recently: 0.2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1900.
The Gentry post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Orchard (1897), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 419 in 19002020 census: 3,790132 years
How historic is Gentry?
C
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Gentry post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Gentry’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Gentry is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #79 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Gentry’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 Gentry’s 28.3 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 12 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% 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 (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. 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 Gentry’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Gentry began as a rural Ozark agricultural community named Orchard City. Located in western Benton County, it was known for its apple orchards and other produce. The town began to grow when the Kansas City Southern Railroad was constructed through the town. In 1894, residents of the community petitioned the county to officially incorporate, and the city's name was changed to Gentry, after an official in charge of the construction of the railroad.
The railroad proved important to Gentry, and by 1903 the town had grown to a population of 1,000.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
1913Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Retake this viewGentry, Arkansas (1912), 1912
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Gentry’s page.
Grew from 419 people in 1900 to 3,790 in 2020, 9 times over.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gentry’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Gentry’s post office has been open since 1894. Another post office, Orchard, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Gentry
1894–today
Orchard
1897–1900
18901960today
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Gentry
Flint CreekGentry
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Gentry’s history
What year was Gentry founded?
The Gentry post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Gentry rank for history?
Gentry is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #79 of 123 in Arkansas. 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 Gentry?
7 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Bank of Gentry (listed 1988, the first), and 1 object. 12 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Gentry?
0.2% of Gentry’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1998.
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 (16), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
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