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History · Winslow

Winslow’s post office opened in 1881, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1910.

1881first post office
1on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Winslow’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Winslow began

When was Winslow founded?

1881

The Winslow post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1905. Another post office, Summit Home (1876), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 289 in 19102020 census: 365145 years
Founding year: the first Winslow post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1905.The full story ↓

What stands out about Winslow’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Winslow’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Winslow’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRock Dam in Devil's Den State Park near…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Winslow came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Winslow.

Read it all →

A stagecoach stop for many years, the community now known as Winslow first received a post office on December 11, 1876, known as Summit Home. The town grew significantly upon completion of the Winslow Tunnel, which allowed the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway (Frisco) to run through the steep Boston Mountains of south Washington County. The town was renamed to Winslow on August 3, 1881, in honor of Edward F. Winslow, president of the Frisco Railroad. The town became a somewhat resort town for its picturesque peaks at the end of the 19th century, drawing many wealthy from the Fort Smith area to summer there. It was incorporated on February 17, 1905.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Winslow, 1876 to 1973

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Summit Home post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Summit Home post office closes
  4. 1881Post officeThe Winslow post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1930In the archiveRock Dam in Devil's Den State Park near Winslow Arkansas on U.S. highway 71 (80859)
  7. 1973On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Winslow, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s2 items
Rock Dam in Devil's Den State Park near Winslow Arkansas on U.S. highway 71 (80859)c. 1930Rock Dam in Devil's Den State Park near Winslow Arkan…View of Winslow. Madison [i.e., Washington] County, Arkansas1935View of Winslow. Madison [i.e., Washington] County, A…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
Winslow High School, Arkansas2011Winslow High School, Arkansas
On the map

Winslow on the map, 1973 to 1983

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

Winslow on the 1973 USGS mapWinslow on the 1983 USGS map1973Winslow 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 Winslow.

Every building

Winslow, building by building, 1913

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.

Winslow fire insurance map, 1913, sheet 11913Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Rock Dam in Devil's Den State Park near Winslow Arkansas on U.S. highway 71 (80859)
Retake this viewRock Dam in Devil's Den State Park near Winslow Arkansas on U.S. highway 71 (80859), c. 1930

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Winslow’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Winslow

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2022
Winslow Commercial Historic District
Winslow Commercial Historic District
Districts
All 1 listings
Winslow Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2022

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

People over time

Winslow, census by census

0100200300400192019401960198020002020Peak: 399

Between 183 and 399 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Winslow

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

See all →
Mark PryorAmerican politician · b. 1963
Mike Conley Jr.American basketball player · b. 1987
L
Lisa BlountAmerican actress · b. 1957
Richard O. CoveyAmerican astronaut · b. 1946
T
Thomas Austin PrestonAmerican poker player · b. 1928
Edward Durell StoneAmerican architect · b. 1902
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Winslow’s post office has been open since 1881. Another post office, Summit Home, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Summit Home
1876–1881
Winslow
1881–today
18701950today
1cemetery inside Winslow
Kelton

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

Questions about Winslow’s history

What year was Winslow founded?

The Winslow post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1905.

What is on the National Register in Winslow?

One place: the Winslow Commercial Historic District (listed 2022).

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 Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.