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History · Oil Trough

Oil Trough’s post office opened in 1829, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Oil Trough was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968. Its Register listing is the Hankins' Store. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1960.

1829first post office
1on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Oil Trough’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Oil Trough began

When was Oil Trough founded?

1829

The Oil Trough post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 237 in 19602020 census: 226197 years
Founding year: the first Oil Trough post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Oil Trough’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 524 in 1970; 226 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1829: 197 years of Oil Trough.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Oil Trough’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCotton gin near Oil Trough, Arkansas: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Oil Trough, census by census

01002003004005001960198020002020Peak: 524

Peaked at 524 in 1970; 226 people lived here in 2020.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Timeline

Oil Trough, 1829 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1829Post officeThe Oil Trough post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1936In the archiveCotton gin near Oil Trough, Arkansas
  6. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 524
The story so far

Oil Trough, in brief

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

Oil Trough is a town in Independence County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Oil Trough had a population of 226. The post office opened here in 1832 under the name Pleasant Island, with a switch to the Oil Trough name in 1849. The town is believed to have acquired its name from a trough used to render bear fat, which was then sold to customers in New Orleans.

Its first post office opened in 1829. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 260 to 226 (-13%).

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

By decade

Oil Trough, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s1 item
Cotton gin near Oil Trough, Arkansas1936Cotton gin near Oil Trough, Arkansas
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
Today2 recent
The old general store is just about all there is to Oil Trough, a small crossroads in the White River Valley of Arkansas2020The old general store is just about all there is to O…The old general store is just about all there is to Oil Trough, a small crossroads in the White River Valley of Arkansas2020The old general store is just about all there is to O…
On the map

Oil Trough on the map, 1935 to 1981

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

Oil Trough on the 1935 USGS mapOil Trough on the 1956 USGS mapOil Trough on the 1962 USGS mapOil Trough on the 1981 USGS map1935Newport 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 Oil Trough.

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.

Cotton gin near Oil Trough, Arkansas
Retake this viewCotton gin near Oil Trough, Arkansas, 1936

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Oil Trough

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
2014
Hankins' Store
Hankins' Store
Buildings
Hankins' StoreBuilding

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Oil Trough

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

See all →
Mary SteenburgenAmerican actress, singer and songwriter · b. 1953
Alice WaltonAmerican heiress to the fortune of Wal-Mart Sto… · b. 1949
Mike BeebeGovernor of Arkansas from 2007 to 2015 · b. 1946
Jim WaltonAmerican businessman · b. 1948
Austin ReavesAmerican basketball player · b. 1998
J
Jim BarnesAmerican basketball player · b. 1941
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Oil Trough’s post office has been open since 1829.

Gone or out of use
Oil Trough Elementary Schoolschool

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

Questions about Oil Trough’s history

What year was Oil Trough founded?

The Oil Trough post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Oil Trough?

One place: the Hankins' Store (listed 2014).

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 (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.