The story
Read it all →How Goshen came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Goshen.
An early variant name was "College Grove". A post office called Gosh-en has been in operation since 1876.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
CHistory
History · Goshen
Goshen’s post office opened in 1876, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 27% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Goshen was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2010. Its Register listing is the Tisdale Store-Goshen Post Office. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1990.
1876first post office
1on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Goshen began
When was Goshen founded?
1876
The Goshen post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 589 in 19902020 census: 2,102150 years
How historic is Goshen?
C
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 27% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Goshen post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Goshen’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Goshen is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns. 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 Goshen’s overall grade.
Founding era1876, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19403.8% of homes (±3.2) · typical AR town 3.1% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register1 listing, 4.4 per 10,000 residents · typical AR town 20.5 · U.S. 2.4C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 27%
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 Goshen’s 4.4 sits below most of its state (33% 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 (±3.2 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 Goshen’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Goshen’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Goshen’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.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.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Goshen on the map, 1958 to 1976
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Goshen. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1958Goshen sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Goshen.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Goshen
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
2024
Tisdale Store-Goshen Post Office
Buildings
All 1 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Goshen, census by census
Grew from 589 people in 1990 to 2,102 in 2020, 3 times over.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Goshen’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Goshen
Nobody well known was born in Goshen itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Questions about Goshen’s history
What year was Goshen founded?
The Goshen post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Goshen rank for history?
Goshen is more historic than 27% 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 Goshen?
One place: the Tisdale Store-Goshen Post Office (listed 2024).
How old are the homes in Goshen?
4% of Goshen’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 2010.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.