Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #19 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 48 buildings. Most of Huntsville was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1850.
The Huntsville post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1925. Two smaller post offices, War Eagle (1832) and Sevierville (1837), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Huntsville is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #19 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Huntsville’s 156 sits above most of its state (94% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 50 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Huntsville’s history is told.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Huntsville. 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 Huntsville.
From Wikipedia’s history of Huntsville.
The city is named after Huntsville, Alabama, the hometown of some early settlers.
In 1863, eight suspected Confederate sympathizers were extrajudicially executed by the Union Army, one survived. Huntsville incorporated as a town after the Civil War in 1877. The community was incorporated as a city on July 16, 1925.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJoe Berry is born here
Born hereRonnie Hawkins is born here
Born hereGary Miller is born hereNo 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 Huntsville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 255 people in 1850 to 2,879 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Huntsville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Huntsville’s post office has been open since 1840. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Huntsville post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1925.
Huntsville is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #19 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.
Three places: the Madison County Courthouse (listed 1993), the Huntsville Commercial Historic District (2008) and the Orval E. Faubus House (2019).
3% of Huntsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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) 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.
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2024
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2013