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History · St. Francis

St. Francis’ post office opened in 1882

Most of St. Francis was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1964. Below: maps from 1940 on and the census since 1890.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How St. Francis began

When was St. Francis founded?

1882

The St. Francis post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 356 in 18902020 census: 218144 years
Founding year: the first St. Francis post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about St. Francis’ 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. Francis are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 501 in 1920; 218 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of St. Francis’ homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Francis’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Francis’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. Francis, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 501

Peaked at 501 in 1920; 218 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How St. Francis came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Francis.

Read it all →

The St. Francis area was settled in the 1840s, with the early residents forming the Chalk Bluff community just northwest of the present city. The Battle of Chalk Bluff was fought here in May 1863, during the Civil War. In 1882, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway ("Cotton Belt") was constructed through the area, and the Chalk Bluff community gradually shifted southeastward to a location along the railroad tracks. This new community was named "St. Francis" after the adjacent river (the river itself was named after Francis of Assisi).

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Francis, 1882 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Saint Francis post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 501
  5. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

St. Francis, decade by decade

Today13 recent
US 62 bridge over St. Francis River in St. Francis, AR under construction2026US 62 bridge over St. Francis River in St. Francis, A…St. Francis, AR City Hall2026St. Francis, AR City HallFormer Methodist Church in2026Former Methodist Church inSt-Francis-welcome-sign-ar2017St-Francis-welcome-sign-arSt-Francis-post-office-ar2017St-Francis-post-office-arSt-Francis-River-ar2017St-Francis-River-arSt-Francis-RR-tracks-west-ar2017St-Francis-RR-tracks-west-arSt-Francis-RR-tracks-east-ar2017St-Francis-RR-tracks-east-arSt-Francis-Oasis-Church-ar2017St-Francis-Oasis-Church-arSt-Francis-Hwy-62-ar2017St-Francis-Hwy-62-arSt-Francis-FD-ar2017St-Francis-FD-arSt-Francis-Arkansas-welcome-sign-ar2017St-Francis-Arkansas-welcome-sign-arARMap-doton-St. Francis2005ARMap-doton-St. Francis
On the map

St. Francis on the map, 1940 to 1984

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

St. Francis on the 1940 USGS mapSt. Francis on the 1956 USGS mapSt. Francis on the 1984 USGS map1940Piggott 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. Francis.

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 Francis

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

Questions about St. Francis’ history

What year was St. Francis founded?

The St. Francis post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (13), 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.