Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #56 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Russellville was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. 26 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 119 buildings between them. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1870.
The Russellville post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1870. Five smaller post offices, Norristown (1839), Howell (1860) and Ouita (1876), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Russellville is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #56 of 123 in Arkansas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Russellville’s 47.7 sits above most of its state (70% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 139 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Russellville’s post office has been open since 1852. Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Russellville’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Russellville.
Before the town was named Russellville, its vicinity was known as Chactas Prairie, the Prairie, or Cactus Flats. Located on the southern edge of the Ozark Mountains and north of the Arkansas River, this setting was an ideal settlement area.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archive1988 Survey Russellville and Dardanelle Vicinity
Born hereScott Bradley is born here
In the archiveThe longest pontoon bridge in the world, spanning Russellville and Dardanelle, Arkansas
In the archiveRussellville AR USA Presby PHS903
BuiltRussellville Public Library is built
Born hereSteve Womack is born here
In the archiveArkansas River and tributaries
Born hereCorliss Williamson is born here4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Russellville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Russellville.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Russellville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 240 people in 1870 to 28,940 in 2020, more than tenfold.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Russellville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Russellville post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1870.
Russellville is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #56 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.
26 listings: 19 buildings, among them the Wilson House (listed 1978, the first), 3 historic districts, the John W. White House, the Russellville Downtown Historic District (Additional Documentation and the Old Town Historic District, with 119 contributing buildings, 2 sites, 1 structure, and 1 object. 139 historic buildings in all.
2% of Russellville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.0 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1985.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (26), 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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