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History · Norphlet

Norphlet’s post office opened in 1891, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Murphy, J.T., No 1 Crater. Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1930.

1891first post office
1on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Norphlet began

When was Norphlet founded?

1891

The Norphlet post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,063 in 19302020 census: 766135 years
Founding year: the first Norphlet post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Norphlet’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 Norphlet are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Norphlet’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Norphlet came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Norphlet.

Read it all →

Norphlet was called Jesse in the 1880s. The Post Office was created in 1891. The town originally centered around William G. Miles's Sawmill. The town was named for Nauphlet Goodwin. The name of the town was misspelled by the Postal Department when the Post Office was created. The word, Nauphlet, was written in long hand and looked like Norphlet to the people in the Postal Department. So, the papers for the post office were issued for Norphlet.

Oil was discovered at Norphlet in 1922. The formation in which the oil was discovered led to 'Norphlet' becoming a geological term - a Norphlet Formation is a Jurassic Sandstone Formation.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Norphlet, decade by decade

Today1 recent
ARMap-doton-Norphlet2005ARMap-doton-Norphlet
On the map

Norphlet on the map, 1962 to 1985

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

Norphlet on the 1962 USGS mapNorphlet on the 1978 USGS mapNorphlet on the 1985 USGS map1962Smackover sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Norphlet.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Norphlet

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
2008
Murphy, J.T., No 1 Crater
Sites
Murphy, J.T., No 1 CraterSite

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

People over time

Norphlet, census by census

02004006008001,00019401960198020002020Peak: 1,063

Between 459 and 1,063 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Norphlet

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

See all →
Ne-YoAmerican R&B singer · b. 1979
Barbara HendricksAmerican operatic soprano and concert singer · b. 1948
Tommy TubervilleAmerican football coach and politician · b. 1954
C
Charles PortisAmerican writer · b. 1933
Daniel GaffordAmerican basketball player · b. 1998
Lamar HuntAmerican sports executive · b. 1932

Questions about Norphlet’s history

What year was Norphlet founded?

The Norphlet post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Norphlet?

One place: the Murphy, J.T., No 1 Crater (listed 2008).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.