Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Wilson was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. 5 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 32 buildings between them. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1960.
The Wilson post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1959.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wilson’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Wilson.
The area was first known as Crowell's Landing, but mostly washed away in the 1880s. Steamboat agent Dr. J.W. Rhodes purchased 37 acres in 1883 and founded a new landing on the Mississippi River he named Golden Lake. Soon after he was named postmaster.
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2014Wilson, AR 028
2014Wilson, AR 027
2014Wilson, AR 026
2014Wilson, AR 023
2014Wilson, AR 018
2014Wilson, AR 016
2010Wilson AR 15 Methodist Church sign
2010Wilson AR 14 Methodist Church
2010Wilson AR 13 Methodist Church
2010Wilson AR 12
2010Wilson AR 11 Lee Wilson and Co 2010
2010Wilson AR 10 Lee Wilson and Co 2010
2010Wilson AR 09 Lee Wilson and Co abandoned
2010Wilson AR 08 USPS post office
2010Wilson AR 07 USPS post office
2010Wilson AR 06 downtown
2010Wilson AR 05 downtown
2010Wilson AR 04 Lee Wilson and Co abandoned
2010Wilson AR 03 Lee Wilson and Co abandoned
2010Wilson AR 02 schoolbuses
2010Wilson AR 01 signEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wilson. 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 Wilson.
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 sheet.
1914Sheet 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 Wilson’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 766 and 1,191 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wilson’s Wikipedia page.
Wilson’s post office has been open since 1903.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Wilson post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1959.
5 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Wilson High School Gymnasium (listed 2015, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Wilson Residential Historic District and the Wilson Commercial Historic District, with 32 contributing buildings. 35 historic buildings in all.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (22), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, 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.
1938
