Piggott’s post office opened in 1883, and 6 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns · #38 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 41 buildings. Most of Piggott was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1900.
Founding year: the first Piggott post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Piggott’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Piggott is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #38 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Piggott’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 Piggott’s 129 sits above most of its state (90% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 46 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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 (±3.8 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 Piggott’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The story so far
Piggott, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Piggott yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Piggott is a city in Clay County, Arkansas, United States. It is one of the two county seats of Clay County, along with Corning. It is the northern terminus of the Arkansas segment of the Crowley's Ridge Parkway, a National Scenic Byway. As of the 2020 census, Piggott had a population of 3,622. The town was named after James A. Piggott, one of the early settlers and initiator of the local post office.
Its first post office opened in 1883. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,849 to 3,622 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Piggott, 1883 to 1995
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Piggott. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1940Piggott 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 Piggott.
Every building
Piggott, building by building, 1908–1915
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 year, then a sheet.
The Piggott post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Piggott rank for history?
Piggott is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #38 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 Piggott?
6 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Pfeiffer House and Carriage House (listed 1982, the first), 1 historic district, the Piggott Commercial Historic District, with 41 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 46 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Piggott?
6% of Piggott’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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), 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.
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