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History · Mountainburg

Mountainburg’s post office opened in 1876, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Frog Bayou Bridge. Below: maps from 1898 on and the census since 1930.

1876first post office
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Mountainburg began

When was Mountainburg founded?

1876

The Mountainburg post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, The Narrows (1848), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 213 in 19302020 census: 528150 years
Founding year: the first Mountainburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Mountainburg’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 Mountainburg are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18983 editions of the USGS map, 1898 to 1983. Watch Mountainburg change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mountainburg’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mountainburg’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
On the map

Mountainburg on the map, 1898 to 1983

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

Mountainburg on the 1898 USGS mapMountainburg on the 1969 USGS mapMountainburg on the 1983 USGS map1898Winslow #4 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 Mountainburg.

The story so far

Mountainburg, in brief

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

Mountainburg is a town in Crawford County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Mountainburg had a population of 528. Mountainburg was laid out in 1883 when the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway was extended to that point.

Its first post office opened in 1876. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 631 to 528 (-16%).

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

Timeline

Mountainburg, 1848 to 1898

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe The Narrows post office opens
  3. 1859Born hereHenry Nelson Pope is born here
  4. 1876Post officeThe The Narrows post office closes
  5. 1876Post officeThe Mountainburg post office opens
  6. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Mountainburg, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Dinosaur statue2012Dinosaur statue
On the National Register

1 historic place in Mountainburg

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1995
Frog Bayou Bridge
Frog Bayou Bridge
Structures
Frog Bayou BridgeStructure

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

People over time

Mountainburg, census by census

010020030040050060070019401960198020002020Peak: 682

Between 185 and 682 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Mountainburg’s post office has been open since 1876. Another post office, The Narrows, opened and closed inside today’s town.

The Narrows
1848–1876
Mountainburg
1876–today
18401930today
1cemetery inside Mountainburg
Basham Memorial

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

Questions about Mountainburg’s history

What year was Mountainburg founded?

The Mountainburg post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Mountainburg?

One place: the Frog Bayou Bridge (listed 1995).

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 Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.