Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #43 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Malvern was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. 14 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 29 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1890.
The Malvern post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Malvern Junction (1873), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Malvern is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #43 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 Malvern’s 53.9 sits above most of its state (72% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 59 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% 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 Malvern’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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Malvern.
Named after Malvern Hill, Virginia, Malvern was founded in 1870 by the Cairo and Fulton Railroad as a city site 21 miles (34 km) southeast of Hot Springs. On October 15, 1878, Malvern officially became the county seat of Hot Spring County. The original inhabitants of the county were Native Americans, trappers, hunters, and farmers.
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 archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - Arkansas - Hot Spring County - Malvern - ED AR 30…BuiltMissouri-Pacific Railroad Depot-Malvern is builtBuiltMissouri-Pacific Railroad Depot-Arkadelphia is built
Born hereBob Burrow is born here
Born hereFran Bennett is born here
Born hereWinston Bryant is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereFred Jones is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Malvern. 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 Malvern.
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 Malvern’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,520 people in 1890 to 10,867 in 2020, 7 times over.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Malvern’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Malvern’s post office has been open since 1885. Another post office, Malvern Junction, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Malvern post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Malvern is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #43 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: 12 buildings, among them the Clark House (listed 1982, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Lawyers' Row Historic District and the Malvern Commercial Historic District, with 29 contributing buildings. 59 historic buildings in all.
6% of Malvern’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (4), Wikidata (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) 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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