Most of Lake Hamilton was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Its Register listing is the Van Lyell House. Below: maps from 1966 on.
Founding year: the first Lake Hamilton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Lake Hamilton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Hamilton is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lake Hamilton’s overall grade.
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 Lake Hamilton’s 9.4 sits near the middle of its state (43% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 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 Lake Hamilton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lake Hamilton yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lake Hamilton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Garland County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Lake Hamilton had a population of 2,084. It is named after Lake Hamilton, one of the area's man-made lakes.
Its first post office opened in 1949. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,135 to 2,084 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Lake Hamilton, 1949 to 1975
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lake Hamilton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1966Hot Springs South sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lake Hamilton.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Lake Hamilton
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
The Lake Hamilton post office opened in 1949, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lake Hamilton rank for history?
Lake Hamilton is more historic than 17% 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 Lake Hamilton?
One place: the Van Lyell House (listed 2004).
How old are the homes in Lake Hamilton?
4% of Lake Hamilton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1989.
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), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
