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History · Whelen Springs

Whelen Springs’ post office opened in 1882

Most of Whelen Springs was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1920.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Whelen Springs began

When was Whelen Springs founded?

1882

The Whelen Springs post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 137 in 19202020 census: 47144 years
Founding year: the first Whelen Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Whelen 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 Whelen Springs are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 214 in 1940; 47 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Whelen Springs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Whelen 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

Whelen Springs, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 214

Peaked at 214 in 1940; 47 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story so far

Whelen Springs, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Whelen Springs yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Whelen Springs is a town in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Whelen Springs had a population of 47. From 1930 through 1939 the town thrived, being a main hub of operations for the then powerful Ozan Lumber Company.

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 92 to 47 (-49%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Whelen Springs, 1882 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Whelen Springs post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 214
  5. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Whelen Springs on the map in 1970

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Whelen Springs.

Whelen Springs on the 1970 USGS map1970Whelen 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 Whelen Springs.

Famous people

Famous people close to Whelen Springs

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

See all →
Ne-YoAmerican R&B singer · b. 1979
Mike HuckabeeGovernor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 · b. 1955
Melinda DillonAmerican actress · b. 1939
Barbara HendricksAmerican operatic soprano and concert singer · b. 1948
Tommy TubervilleAmerican football coach and politician · b. 1954
Daniel DavisAmerican actor · b. 1945

Questions about Whelen Springs’ history

What year was Whelen Springs founded?

The Whelen Springs 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 →
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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 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.