Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #33 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Hope was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.
The Hope post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1880.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hope is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #33 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Hope’s 128 sits above most of its state (90% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 111 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Hope’s post office has been open since 1873.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1885Sheet 2 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hope.
Hope began in 1873, when a railroad was built through the area. The town was named for Hope Loughborough, the daughter of a railroad executive. In the 1902–1903 timeframe, the St. Louis, San Francisco and New Orleans Railroad was built into town; that line is now operated by the Kiamichi Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Arkansas - Hempstead County - Hope - ED 29-6, ED …
In the archiveHope, Arkansas (c. 1904)
Born hereKetty Lester is born here
Born hereMelinda Dillon is born here
In the archiveHope, Arkansas (vicinity). War emergency pipeline from Longbeach, Texas to Norris City, I…
Born hereVince Foster is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereMike Huckabee is born here
In the archiveHope, Arkansas High School Band prepares for Bill Clinton's 1993 inaugural paradeBuiltBill Clinton Birthplace is builtBuiltMissouri-Pacific Railroad Depot-Hope is built4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hope. 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 Hope.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hope’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,233 and 10,616 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hope’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The Hope post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1880.
Hope is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #33 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.
14 listings: 11 buildings, among them the St. Mark's Episcopal Church (listed 1976, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Hope Historic Commercial District, the North Elm Street Historic District and the North Washington Street Historic District, with 100 contributing buildings. 111 historic buildings in all.
8% of Hope’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1976.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (14), 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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