Pea Ridge’s post office opened in 1850, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #74 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Pea Ridge was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. 3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 13 buildings. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1940.
Founding year: the first Pea Ridge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Pea Ridge’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pea Ridge is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #74 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pea Ridge’s overall grade.
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 Pea Ridge’s 19.7 sits near the middle of its state (53% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 16 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% 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 (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. 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 Pea Ridge’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pea Ridge yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Pea Ridge is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The name Pea Ridge is derived from a combination of the physical location of the original settlement of the town, across the crest of a ridge of the Ozark Mountains, and for the hog peanuts or turkey peas that had been originally cultivated by Native American tribes centuries before European settlement, which later helped to provide basic subsistence once those pioneer settlers arrived. The rural town is best known as the location of the pivotal American Civil War engagement the Battle of Pea Ridge, or, as it is locally known, the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, which took place approximately 5 miles (8 km) east of the town. The site …
Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,794 to 6,559 (+37%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Pea Ridge’s history
What year was Pea Ridge founded?
The Pea Ridge post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Pea Ridge rank for history?
Pea Ridge is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #74 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.
What is on the National Register in Pea Ridge?
Three places: the Miller Homestead (listed 1988), the Shady Grove School (1988) and the Pea Ridge Commercial Historic District (2007).
How old are the homes in Pea Ridge?
1% of Pea Ridge’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 2005.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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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