Pocahontas’ post office opened in 1836, and 8 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 64% of U.S. towns · #25 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Pocahontas was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. 8 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 43 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1910 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Pocahontas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pocahontas’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pocahontas is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #25 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 Pocahontas’ 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 Pocahontas’ 65.0 sits above most of its state (75% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 49 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share (±1.4 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 Pocahontas’ 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.
Every building
Pocahontas, building by building, 1910–1922
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.
1910Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
This city was named after the Native American from Jamestown, Virginia. A statue of her is located in Overlook Park along the Black River.
The family of Dr. Ransom S. Bettis is given the credit for being the first settlers on the land now called Pocahontas. Dr. Bettis' daughter, Cinderella, married Thomas S. Drew, and lived on 800 acres where the town of Biggers now exists. Bettis and Drew led the founding of Pocahontas as the county seat of Randolph County.
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.
Pocahontas’s post office has been open since 1836.
Hamlets and corners on the map
East Pocahontas
Gone or out of use
Randolph Memorial Hospitalhospital
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pocahontas
Randolph Memorial GardensSaint PaulTroy
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Pocahontas’ history
What year was Pocahontas founded?
The Pocahontas post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Pocahontas rank for history?
Pocahontas is more historic than 64% of U.S. towns, #25 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 Pocahontas?
8 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Old Randolph County Courthouse (listed 1973, the first), 1 historic district, the Pocahontas Commercial Historic District, with 43 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 49 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Pocahontas?
2% of Pocahontas’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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), 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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