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History · St. Charles

St. Charles’ post office opened in 1850, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

Most of St. Charles was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Its Register listings are the St. Charles Battle Site and the St. Charles Battle Monument. Below: maps from 1939 on and the census since 1880.

1850first post office

2on the National Register

1%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

How St. Charles began

When was St. Charles founded?

1850

The St. Charles post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 73 in 18802020 census: 207176 years

Founding year: the first St. Charles post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about St. Charles’ 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 St. Charles are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 412 in 1940; 207 people lived here in 2020.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Charles’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Charles’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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People over time

St. Charles, census by census

Peaked at 412 in 1940; 207 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How St. Charles came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Charles.

Read it all →

The area known as St. Charles was within the territory of the Middle Mississippian culture during the Woodland Period of Native American History. In early modern times, possibly after Hernando De Soto's initial exploration of the American Southeast, the area encompassing the whole of Arkansas County and much of Eastern Arkansas became Quapaw territory and remained so until the arrival of French explorers in the 17th century. After American settlers started to move into the Arkansas territory, A treaty signed in 1818 moved most all of the Quapaw from what is now Arkansas County to the center of the state. By 1833, the Quapaw were no longer in Arkansas. The first settler to set foot in what is Now St. Charles was French Coureur des Bois Pierre Pertuis, who moved to the area after having purchased land from the 1797 Spanish land grant. By 1839, Charles W. Belknap owned the site, known bri…

ChaptersEarly history Civil War and the Gilded Age St. Charles Lynching of 1904 Present day

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Charles, 1850 to 1940

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

19th century
1850Post officeThe Saint Charles post office opens
20th century
1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1940CensusPopulation peaks at 412

By decade

St. Charles, decade by decade

Today2 recent

2024White River at

2024Highway 1S in

On the map

St. Charles on the map, 1939 to 1970

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

1939Indian Bay 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 St. Charles.

On the National Register

2 historic places in St. Charles

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

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1974

St. Charles Battle Site

SitesObjects

St. Charles Battle SiteSite

St. Charles Battle MonumentObject

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

Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map

Saint Charles

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

Questions about St. Charles’ history

What year was St. Charles founded?

The St. Charles post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in St. Charles?

Two places: the St. Charles Battle Site (listed 1974) and the St. Charles Battle Monument (1996).

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), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.

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