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History · Georgetown

Georgetown dates to 1789

Most of Georgetown was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: maps from 1935 on and the census since 1880.

1789founded
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Georgetown began

When was Georgetown founded?

1789

Georgetown dates its founding to 1789 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 92 in 18802020 census: 81237 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1909.The full story ↓

What stands out about Georgetown’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Georgetown are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 126 in 1990; 81 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsEstablished in 1789: 237 years of Georgetown.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Georgetown’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Georgetown, census by census

010018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 126

Peaked at 126 in 1990; 81 people lived here in 2020.

5 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

Georgetown, 1789 to 1990

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1789
    FoundingGeorgetown is established
  3. 20th century
  4. 1909Post officeThe Georgetown post office opens
  5. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1972Post officeThe Georgetown post office closes
  7. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 126
The story

How Georgetown came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Georgetown.

Read it all →

The settlement of Arkansas Post, which began in 1686, came more than a century earlier, though that community dissolved in the years following the American Civil War. The state's next oldest community after Georgetown — Batesville — was founded approximately 21 years later.

In 1945, the White River flooded its banks in Georgetown. The disaster contributed to the demise the next year of the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad, which had provided passenger and freight service since 1906 from Joplin, Missouri, to Helena, Arkansas.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Georgetown on the map, 1935 to 1972

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

Georgetown on the 1935 USGS mapGeorgetown on the 1957 USGS mapGeorgetown on the 1968 USGS mapGeorgetown on the 1972 USGS map1935Gregory sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Georgetown.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Georgetown had its own post office from 1909 to 1972.

Georgetown
1909–1972
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Georgetown Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Georgetown’s history

What year was Georgetown founded?

In 1789, according to Wikidata. Georgetown’s post office opened in 1909, and the census of 1880 counted 92 people here.

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, 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.