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Ravenden Springs SchoolRavenden Springs School · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0
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History · Ravenden Springs

Ravenden Springs’ post office opened in 1883, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Ravenden Springs was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listing is the Ravenden Springs School. Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1910.

1883first post office
1on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Ravenden Springs began

When was Ravenden Springs founded?

1883

The Ravenden Springs post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Janes Store (1867) and Ravenden (1881), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 189 in 19102020 census: 119143 years
Founding year: the first Ravenden Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ravenden Springs’ 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 Ravenden Springs are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 230 in 1980; 119 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Ravenden Springs.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ravenden Springs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ravenden Springs’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
People over time

Ravenden Springs, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 230

Peaked at 230 in 1980; 119 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Ravenden Springs’s post office has been open since 1883. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Janes Store
1867–1888
Ravenden
1881–1883
Ravenden Springs
1883–today
18601940today
Gone or out of use
Ravenden Springs Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Ravenden Springs
Janes

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

The story

How Ravenden Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ravenden Springs.

Read it all →

The town was established in 1883 by businessman R. D. Welsh, who visited the area upon hearing stories about a local Methodist Minister, William Bailey, who claimed to have found healing springs due to a recurring dream. Welsh, impressed with what he saw in the area, organized a stock company to build a resort town around the springs. The town gained many seasonal visitors by the turn of the century, but by the 1930s it began to decline.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ravenden Springs, 1867 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1867Post officeThe Janes Store post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Ravenden post office opens
  4. 1883Post officeThe Ravenden post office closes
  5. 1883Post officeThe Ravenden Springs post office opens
  6. 1888Post officeThe Janes Store post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 230
By decade

Ravenden Springs, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Ravenden Springs School2015Ravenden Springs SchoolARMap-doton-Ravenden Springs2005ARMap-doton-Ravenden Springs
On the map

Ravenden Springs on the map, 1966 to 1981

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

Ravenden Springs on the 1966 USGS mapRavenden Springs on the 1981 USGS map1966Ravenden Springs 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 Ravenden Springs.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Ravenden Springs

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2004
Ravenden Springs School
Ravenden Springs School
Buildings
Ravenden Springs SchoolBuilding

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Ravenden Springs

Nobody well known was born in Ravenden Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
T
Tess HarperAmerican actress · b. 1950
Gordon CarpenterAmerican basketball player · b. 1919
Billy Lee RileyAmerican rockabilly musician, singer, record pr… · b. 1933
J
Jim JohnstonAmerican music composer and musician best known… · b. 1959
James T. ConwayU.S. Marine Corps general · b. 1947
Ed BethuneArkansas politician, lawyer, lobbyist and Unite… · b. 1935

Questions about Ravenden Springs’ history

What year was Ravenden Springs founded?

The Ravenden Springs post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Ravenden Springs?

One place: the Ravenden Springs School (listed 2004).

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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.