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History · Rockport

Rockport’s post office opened in 1837, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Rockport was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Its Register listing is the Rockport Cemetery. Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1960.

1837first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Rockport began

When was Rockport founded?

1837

The Rockport post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 162 in 19602020 census: 676189 years
Founding year: the first Rockport post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Rockport’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 Rockport are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Rockport.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rockport’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rockport’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
Timeline

Rockport, 1837 to 1948

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Rockport post office opens
  3. 1898Post officeThe Rockport post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1948On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Rockport came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rockport.

Read it all →

Rockport is one of the oldest named places in Arkansas. Although the present city is overshadowed by Malvern, Rockport served as the county seat of Hot Spring County from 1846 to 1879 and was a landmark community of Arkansas for many years both before and after that time.

ChaptersEuropean exploration and settlement through early statehoodAmerican Civil War through the Gilded AgeEarly twentieth century through the modern era

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Rockport, decade by decade

Today2 recent
The small First Baptist Rockport Church2020The small First Baptist Rockport ChurchARMap-doton-Rockport2005ARMap-doton-Rockport
On the map

Rockport on the map, 1948 to 2000

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

Rockport on the 1948 USGS mapRockport on the 1978 USGS mapRockport on the 2000 USGS map1948Malvern 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 Rockport.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Rockport

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2002
Rockport Cemetery
Rockport Cemetery
Sites
Rockport CemeterySite

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

People over time

Rockport, census by census

02004006008001960198020002020Peak: 792

Between 158 and 792 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Rockport

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

See all →
Billy Bob ThorntonAmerican actor, filmmaker, and musician · b. 1955
Alan LaddAmerican actor · b. 1913
James RectorAmerican athlete · b. 1884
John L. McClellanAmerican lawyer, politician, and U.S. Senator f… · b. 1896
Justin MooreAmerican country music singer and songwriter · b. 1984
Bruce WestermanAmerican politician · b. 1967
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Rockport had its own post office from 1837 to 1898.

Rockport
1837–1898
18301930today

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Malvern14 historic placesB−

Questions about Rockport’s history

What year was Rockport founded?

The Rockport post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Rockport?

One place: the Rockport Cemetery (listed 2002).

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 (1), the Library of Congress (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.