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History · Wilton

Wilton’s post office opened in 1892, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway Depot. Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1910.

1892first post office
1on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Wilton began

When was Wilton founded?

1892

The Wilton post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Millkin (1890), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 294 in 19102020 census: 287134 years
Founding year: the first Wilton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Wilton’s 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 Wilton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 495 in 1980; 287 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wilton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wilton’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

Wilton, census by census

0100200300400500192019401960198020002020Peak: 495

Peaked at 495 in 1980; 287 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story so far

Wilton, in brief

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

Wilton is a city in Little River County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, Wilton had a population of 287.

Its first post office opened in 1892. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 374 to 287 (-23%).

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

Timeline

Wilton, 1890 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Millkin post office opens
  3. 1892Post officeThe Millkin post office closes
  4. 1892Post officeThe Wilton post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 495
By decade

Wilton, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway Depot2016Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway DepotS.S.P. Mills and Son Building, mid-demolition2016S.S.P. Mills and Son Building, mid-demolitionOld US 71-Wilton Segment2016Old US 71-Wilton SegmentMills Cemetery2016Mills Cemetery
On the map

Wilton on the map, 1950 to 1975

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

Wilton on the 1950 USGS mapWilton on the 1975 USGS map1950Ashdown West 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 Wilton.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Wilton

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway Depot
Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway Depot
Buildings
Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway DepotBuilding

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Wilton’s post office has been open since 1892. Another post office, Millkin, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Millkin
1890–1892
Wilton
1892–today
18901960today
Gone or out of use
Wilton Schoolschool

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

Questions about Wilton’s history

What year was Wilton founded?

The Wilton post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Wilton?

One place: the Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway Depot (listed 2008).

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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.