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Holly Grove Historic District, 4 of 4Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Holly Grove

Holly Grove’s post office opened in 1872, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 20 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1880.

1872first post office
4on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Holly Grove’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Holly Grove began

When was Holly Grove founded?

1872

The Holly Grove post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 161 in 18802020 census: 460154 years
Founding year: the first Holly Grove post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Holly Grove’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.Boom and bustPeaked at 977 in 1920; 460 people lived here in 2020.A historic districtThe Holly Grove Historic District takes in 20 historic buildings.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Holly Grove’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Holly Grove’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 viewHolly Grove 2A6: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Holly Grove, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 977

Peaked at 977 in 1920; 460 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

On the National Register

4 listings protect 28 historic buildings

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

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
28
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Holly Grove Historic District
Holly Grove Historic DistrictJames A. Walls HouseAbramson House, built 1921Lair House
BuildingsDistricts
Holly Grove Historic DistrictDistrict
James A. Walls HouseBuilding
Abramson HouseBuilt 1921
Lair HouseBuilding

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

The story so far

Holly Grove, in brief

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

Holly Grove is a city in Monroe County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 460, down from 602 in 2010. The town started as a plantation community which was a suburb of Lawrenceville, which was the seat of Monroe County until 1857. However, the construction through Holly Grove in 1872 of the Arkansas Central Railway, later the Arkansas Midland Railroad, caused Lawrenceville to shrink and Holly Grove to grow. The town was officially incorporated in 1876.

Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 602 to 460 (-24%).

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

Timeline

Holly Grove, 1872 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe Holly Grove post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1902Born hereMyrtle Smith Livingston is born here
  5. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 977
  6. 1921BuiltAbramson House is built
  7. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Holly Grove, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Holly Grove 2A6Date?Holly Grove 2A6
Today2 recent
Holly Grove Presbyterian Church2016Holly Grove Presbyterian ChurchARMap-doton-Holly Grove2005ARMap-doton-Holly Grove
On the map

Holly Grove on the map, 1940 to 1971

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

Holly Grove on the 1940 USGS mapHolly Grove on the 1957 USGS mapHolly Grove on the 1971 USGS map1940Holly Grove 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 Holly Grove.

Every building

Holly Grove, building by building, 1913

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 sheet.

Holly Grove fire insurance map, 1913, sheet 11913Sheet 1 of 1
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.

Holly Grove 2A6
Retake this viewHolly Grove 2A6

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

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Holly Grove’s history

What year was Holly Grove founded?

The Holly Grove post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Holly Grove?

4 listings: 3 buildings and 1 historic district, the Holly Grove Historic District, with 20 contributing buildings. 28 historic buildings in all.

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 Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.