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BHistory
History · Lonoke

Lonoke’s post office opened in 1872, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #31 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it

19 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 19 buildings. Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1880.

1872first post office
19on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
8old photos & papers
9famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lonoke’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lonoke began

When was Lonoke founded?

1872

The Lonoke post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hicks Station (1867), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 659 in 18802020 census: 4,276154 years

How historic is Lonoke?

B

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Lonoke post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Lonoke’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lonoke is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #31 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lonoke’s overall grade.
Founding era1872, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194010.2% of homes (±7.9) · typical AR town 3.1% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register19 listings, 42 historic buildings, 98.4 per 10,000 residents · typical AR town 20.5 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 61%
NewerOlder
Arkansas towns of 2,500+ (123)Ahead of 75%

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 Lonoke’s 98.4 sits above most of its state (85% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 42 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.9 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 Lonoke’s past

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

Landmarks on the Register19 places on the National Register.Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1897 to 1919, drew every building in Lonoke.Famous sons and daughtersEd Hamm, Joseph Taylor Robinson and 7 more were born here.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

19 historic places in Lonoke

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

places listed
19
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
42
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
Thomas Sloan Boyd House
Thomas Sloan Boyd HouseLonoke County CourthouseEagle HouseShull HouseTrimble HouseWalls HouseWheat HouseRock Island Depot, built 1912W. P. Fletcher HouseEagle, Joe P., and D. R. Boone BuildingLonoke Confederate MonumentLonoke Downtown Historic DistrictFirst Christian ChurchFirst Presbyterian ChurchTrimble-McCrary HouseCarver GymnasiumMorris House, built 1963J. M. Bransford HouseStandard Oil Company of Louisiana Oil Depot
BuildingsDistrictsObjects
Thomas Sloan Boyd HouseBuilding
Lonoke County CourthouseBuilding
Eagle HouseBuilding
Shull HouseBuilding
Trimble HouseBuilding
Walls HouseBuilding
Wheat HouseBuilding
Rock Island DepotBuilt 1912
All 19 listings
W. P. Fletcher HouseBuilding · listed 1990Eagle, Joe P., and D. R. Boone BuildingBuilding · listed 1994Lonoke Confederate MonumentObject · listed 1996Lonoke Downtown Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1996First Christian ChurchBuilding · listed 1997First Presbyterian ChurchBuilding · listed 2004Trimble-McCrary HouseBuilding · listed 2004Carver GymnasiumBuilding · listed 2009Morris HouseBuilding · listed 2019J. M. Bransford HouseBuilding · listed 2019Standard Oil Company of Louisiana Oil DepotBuilding · listed 2023

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

Every building

Lonoke, building by building, 1897–1919

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.

Lonoke fire insurance map, 1897, sheet 11897Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Famous people

9 famous people were born in Lonoke

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
E
Ed HammFormer American long jumper and Olympic gold me… · b. 1906
Joseph Taylor RobinsonAmerican politician · b. 1872
Paula JonesAmerican Civil Servant · b. 1966
J
Jim Lee HowellAmerican football player and coach · b. 1914
T
Thomas Clark Trimble IIIUnited States federal judge · b. 1878
B
Bill WallsAmerican football player · b. 1914
The story

How Lonoke came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lonoke.

Read it all →

Union Army troops advanced through Central Arkansas during the American Civil War. The town of Brownsville was burned to the ground by Union forces after the retreat of Confederate forces westward to Little Rock. After the war, it was decided by the city leaders of Brownsville that a new town should be formed by the nearby railroad so that those who wished to stay could do so.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Lonoke in 1889

Passages that mention Lonoke, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The creating act fixed the seat of justice of the county at the town of Lonoke, and appointed George M. Chapline, Thomas Doyle and William Goodwin commissioners, who, under the direction of the board of supervisors (County Court) should purchase lots in the town of Lonoke whereon to locate the seat…
Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the state... biographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.]1889 · page 575Read the page →
Read the text

The creating act fixed the seat of justice of the county at the town of Lonoke, and appointed George M. Chapline, Thomas Doyle and William Goodwin commissioners, who, under the direction of the board of supervisors (County Court) should purchase lots in the town of Lonoke whereon to locate the seat of justice and erect the county buildings. Accordingly at the first meeting of the

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
advantages for an education that the primitive schools of the period offered. In 1868 he came to Arkansas in company with his brother, and located near Lonoke, in what was then Prairie County, where he engaged as a farm laborer. In the fall of 1868 he settled at Lonoke, there being tendered the pos…
Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the state... biographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.]1889 · page 607Read the page →
Read the text

advantages for an education that the primitive schools of the period offered. In 1868 he came to Arkansas in company with his brother, and located near Lonoke, in what was then Prairie County, where he engaged as a farm laborer. In the fall of 1868 he settled at Lonoke, there being tendered the position to teach the first school in the place, which offer he accepted. He then engaged as a

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Lonoke, 1867 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1867Post officeThe Hicks Station post office opens
  3. 1872Born hereJoseph Taylor Robinson is born here
  4. 1872Post officeThe Hicks Station post office closes
  5. 1872Post officeThe Lonoke post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1906Born hereEd Hamm is born here
  8. 1912BuiltRock Island Depot is built
  9. 1914Born hereJim Lee Howell is born here
  10. 1917In the archiveTraining Camps and Schools - Aviation - Theater of Operations - Miscellaneous [165-WW-518…
  11. 1930In the archiveMore than 500 carloads of foodstuffs were donated to the Red Cross for the drought suffer…
  12. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  13. 1963BuiltMorris House is built
  14. 1966Born herePaula Jones is born here
By decade

Lonoke, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s8 items
Training Camps and Schools - Aviation - Theater of Operations - Miscellaneous [165-WW-518D-9]1917Training Camps and Schools - Aviation - Theater of Op…Eberts Field, Lonoke, Ark. Wreck of plane after forced landing several miles from Eberts Field. No one was hurt1918Eberts Field, Lonoke, Ark. Wreck of plane after force…More than 500 carloads of foodstuffs were donated to the Red Cross for the drought sufferers, from northern, central an…1930More than 500 carloads of foodstuffs were donated to …More than 500 carloads of foodstuffs were donated to the Red Cross for the drought sufferers, from northern, central an…1930More than 500 carloads of foodstuffs were donated to …More than 500 carloads of foodstuffs were donated to the Red Cross for the drought sufferers, from northern central and…1930More than 500 carloads of foodstuffs were donated to …Applicants for Red Cross food orders while away the time in singing, instead of standing in line. The scene is at Lonok…1930Applicants for Red Cross food orders while away the t…Applicants for Red Cross food orders while away the time in singing, instead of standing in line. The scene is at Lonok…1930Applicants for Red Cross food orders while away the t…Applicants for Red Cross food orders while away the time in singing, instead of standing in line. The scene is at Lonok…1930Applicants for Red Cross food orders while away the t…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Lonoke, AR 0142015Lonoke, AR 014Lonoke, AR 0122015Lonoke, AR 012Lonoke, AR 0072015Lonoke, AR 007
On the map

Lonoke on the map, 1940 to 1982

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

Lonoke on the 1940 USGS mapLonoke on the 1950 USGS mapLonoke on the 1982 USGS map1940Lonoke 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 Lonoke.

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.

Training Camps and Schools - Aviation - Theater of Operations - Miscellaneous [165-WW-518D-9]
Retake this viewTraining Camps and Schools - Aviation - Theater of Operations - Miscellaneous [165-WW-518D-9], 1917

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Lonoke, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,50018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 4,287

Between 659 and 4,287 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Lonoke’s post office has been open since 1872. Another post office, Hicks Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hicks Station
1867–1872
Lonoke
1872–today
18601940today
Gone or out of use
Eberts Fieldmilitary
1cemetery inside Lonoke
Lonoke

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

Help out

Finish Lonoke’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewTraining Camps and Schools - Aviation -…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Lonoke’s history

What year was Lonoke founded?

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

How does Lonoke rank for history?

Lonoke is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #31 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.

What is on the National Register in Lonoke?

19 listings: 17 buildings, among them the Thomas Sloan Boyd House (listed 1976, the first), 1 historic district, the Lonoke Downtown Historic District, with 19 contributing buildings, and 1 object. 42 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Lonoke?

10% of Lonoke’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1983.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (19), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.