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History · Plumerville

Plumerville was first counted by the census in 1880, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1961 on and the census since 1880.

1880first census
5on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Plumerville began

When was Plumerville founded?

1880

Plumerville first appears in the census in 1880. Two smaller post offices, Plummer's Station (1873) and Plumer (1875), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 135 in 18802020 census: 734146 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Plumerville’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 Plumerville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Plumerville.Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Plumerville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Plumerville’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Plumerville’s post office has been open since 1881. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Plummer's Station
1873–1875
Plumer
1875–1881
Plumerville
1881–today
18701950today

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

On the National Register

5 historic places in Plumerville

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

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Plummer's Station
Plummer's StationPlumerville School BuildingSims HotelHighway A-1 BridgeStuckey’s (Plumerville)
BuildingsStructures
Plummer's StationBuilding
Plumerville School BuildingBuilding
All 5 listings
Sims HotelBuilding · listed 1975Highway A-1 BridgeStructure · listed 2021Stuckey’s (Plumerville)Building · listed 2022

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

The story

How Plumerville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Plumerville.

Read it all →

Plumerville began as Plummer's Station, a stage station on the Fort Smith to Memphis branch of the Butterfield Overland Mail.

The old downtown area of Plumerville was completely destroyed by fire in 1987. The old town jail or "calaboose" (built circa 1880) still stands intact on Springfield Street near the new city hall.

John Middleton Clayton (October 13, 1840 – January 29, 1889) was a Republican carpetbagger to Arkansas, originally from Pennsylvania. He was also the younger brother of Powell Clayton, a Governor of Arkansas.

ChaptersAssassination

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Plumerville, 1873 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Plummer's Station post office opens
  3. 1875Post officeThe Plummer's Station post office closes
  4. 1875Post officeThe Plumer post office opens
  5. 1881Post officeThe Plumer post office closes
  6. 1881Post officeThe Plumerville post office opens
  7. 1899Born hereRupert Bayless Vance is born here
  8. 20th century
  9. 1957Born hereLee Johnson is born here
  10. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Plumerville, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Plumerville School Building2021Plumerville School BuildingTown Jail of Plumerville, Arkansas. Built around 18802016Town Jail of Plumerville, Arkansas. Built around 1880Plummerville School Bldg2014Plummerville School BldgArkansas Highway 92 northbound2011Arkansas Highway 92 northbound
On the map

Plumerville on the map, 1961 to 1990

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

Plumerville on the 1961 USGS mapPlumerville on the 1981 USGS mapPlumerville on the 1990 USGS map1961Morrilton East 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 Plumerville.

People over time

Plumerville, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 854

Between 135 and 854 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Plumerville

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
L
Lee JohnsonAmerican basketball player · b. 1957
R
Rupert Bayless VanceAmerican sociologist · b. 1899

Questions about Plumerville’s history

What year was Plumerville founded?

The Plumerville post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Plumerville?

5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Plummer's Station (listed 1975, the first), and 1 structure.

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 Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, 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.