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History · Lake View

Lake View’s post office opened in 1906, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 16 buildings.

1906first post office
1on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Lake View began

When was Lake View founded?

1906

The Lake View post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Red Store (1878) and Lakeview (1906), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 327120 years
Founding year: the first Lake View post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lake View’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Lake View are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lake View, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lake View’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lake View’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Red Store
1878–1906
Lakeview
1906–1925
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Lakeview
Gone or out of use
Key Storelocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Lake View, in brief

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

Lake View is a city in Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Lake View had a population of 327. There is also a Lakeview in Baxter County. The original settlement name was "Turkey Scratch" from the 1850s until the town was renamed in the 1920s. When the town was re-established in 1937, Lake View became one of three communities in Arkansas to be reserved for black farm families by the Resettlement Administration. It is one of the few communities in the U.S. with an African-American percentage at over 90 percent of the population.

Its first post office opened in 1906. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 443 to 327 (-26%).

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

Timeline

Lake View, 1878 to 1925

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Red Store post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1906Post officeThe Red Store post office closes
  5. 1906Post officeThe Lakeview post office opens
  6. 1925Post officeThe Lakeview post office closes
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 album
On the National Register

1 listing protects 16 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
16
each building in a district counts
first listed
2019
Lakeview Resettlement Project Historic District
Lakeview Resettlement Project Historic District
Districts
All 1 listings
Lakeview Resettlement Project Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2019

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Lake View

Nobody well known was born in Lake View itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
John Lee HookerAmerican blues musician (1912 or 1917–2001) · b. 1917
Sam CookeAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1931
Ike TurnerAmerican musician · b. 1931
Rick RossAmerican rapper and record executive · b. 1976
L
Levon HelmAmerican musician · b. 1940
Conway TwittyAmerican country singer · b. 1933

Questions about Lake View’s history

What year was Lake View founded?

The Lake View post office opened in 1906, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Lake View?

One place: the Lakeview Resettlement Project Historic District (listed 2019).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.