Prescott’s post office opened in 1873, and 13 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #27 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Prescott was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. 13 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Prairie De Ann Battlefield, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 45 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Prescott post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Prescott’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Prescott is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #27 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Prescott’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 Prescott’s 178 sits above most of its state (95% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 54 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 is a Census survey estimate (±5.2 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 Prescott’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
1885Sheet 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.
The city of Prescott was not platted until 1873 during Reconstruction. It was to be a station stop for the Cairo & Fulton Railroad then under construction. The railroad was constructed parallel to the Southwest Trail through northern Nevada County. Prescott was incorporated on October 6, 1874.
The original town site consisted of 48 blocks, 24 on each side of the railroad. The streets were platted in a grid pattern from the railroad line. Streets running east–west use the railroad as a dividing line between their eastern and western halves, and streets running north–south use Main Street as a dividing line between their northern and southern halves.
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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Prescott’s history
What year was Prescott founded?
The Prescott post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Prescott rank for history?
Prescott is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #27 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 Prescott?
13 listings: 7 buildings, 1 historic district, the Prescott Commercial Historic District, with 45 contributing buildings, 4 sites, and 1 structure. 54 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Prescott?
9% of Prescott’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1979.
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), Wikidata (8), the National Register of Historic Places (13), 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.
★ Landmark
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