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C+History
History · Monette

Monette’s post office opened in 1898, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listings are the First National Bank Building and the Monette Water Tower. Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1910.

1898first post office
2on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Monette began

When was Monette founded?

1898

The Monette post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Stottsville (1880), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 559 in 19102020 census: 1,506128 years

How historic is Monette?

C+

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Monette’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monette is more historic than 44% 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 Monette’s overall grade.
Founding era1898, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194010.0% of homes (±4.9) · typical AR town 3.1% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register2 listings, 16.0 per 10,000 residents · typical AR town 20.5 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 44%
NewerOlder

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 Monette’s 16.0 sits near the middle of its state (50% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 (±4.9 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 Monette’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 Monette are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Monette’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Monette’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
The story

How Monette came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Monette.

Read it all →

The city of Monette was initially settled in 1898, when the Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad bypassed the town of Stottsville (about a mile away from the town's present location, founded by Adam Stots in the 1870's) in 1898. Settlers and businessmen in Stottsville decided to relocate to the new railroad. The first train arrived in Monette on August 19, 1898, and the town was incorporated two years later on July 3, 1900.

On December 10, 2021, a large and violent EF4 tornado part of a large tornado outbreak struck Monette. One person was killed at a nursing home on the north side of town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Monette, 1880 to 1941

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Stottsville post office opens
  3. 1898Post officeThe Stottsville post office closes
  4. 1898Post officeThe Monette post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1941On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Monette, decade by decade

Today11 recent
Monette AR 0102011Monette AR 010Monette AR 0092011Monette AR 009Monette AR 0082011Monette AR 008Monette AR 0072011Monette AR 007Monette AR 0062011Monette AR 006Monette AR 0052011Monette AR 005Monette AR 0042011Monette AR 004Monette AR 0032011Monette AR 003Monette AR 0022011Monette AR 002Monette AR 0012011Monette AR 001ARMap-doton-Monette2005ARMap-doton-Monette
On the map

Monette on the map, 1941 to 1983

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

Monette on the 1941 USGS mapMonette on the 1956 USGS mapMonette on the 1983 USGS map1941Leachville 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 Monette.

Every building

Monette, building by building, 1913

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 sheet.

Monette fire insurance map, 1913, sheet 11913Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

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

On the National Register

2 historic places in Monette

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
First National Bank Building
First National Bank BuildingMonette Water Tower
BuildingsStructures
First National Bank BuildingBuilding
Monette Water TowerStructure

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

People over time

Monette, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001920194019601980200020201,506

Grew from 559 people in 1910 to 1,506 in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Monette

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

See all →
J
John GrishamAmerican writer · b. 1955
Wes BentleyAmerican actor · b. 1978
Malik MonkAmerican basketball player · b. 1998
Iris DeMentAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1961
Jeanne CarmenAmerican model, actress and trick golfer · b. 1930
E
Ed BruceAmerican country music songwriter and singer · b. 1939
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Monette’s post office has been open since 1898. Another post office, Stottsville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Stottsville
1880–1898
Monette
1898–today
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Whited Brothers Landing Stripairport

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

Questions about Monette’s history

What year was Monette founded?

The Monette post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Monette rank for history?

Monette is more historic than 44% 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 Monette?

Two places: the First National Bank Building (listed 2008) and the Monette Water Tower (2008).

How old are the homes in Monette?

10% of Monette’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1975.

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 (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.