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History · Bonita

Bonita’s post office opened in 1890

Most of Bonita was built recently: 0.9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: maps from 1922 on and the census since 1910.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
0.9%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Bonita began

When was Bonita founded?

1890

The Bonita post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lind Grove (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 273 in 19102020 census: 170136 years
Founding year: the first Bonita post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bonita’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 Bonita are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 574 in 1960; 170 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bonita’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bonita’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

Bonita, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 574

Peaked at 574 in 1960; 170 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Bonita came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bonita.

Read it all →

Not much is known about the early history of Bonita, but it is believed that the extension of the Missouri Pacific Railroad through Morehouse Parish in the 1890s is what triggered the establishment of the town. The construction of a post office around the same period solidifies this.

Six churches serve the small village: St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, St. Luke Baptist Church, St. Joe Ame Church, the Bonita Church of God, Bonita Baptist Church, and Holy Ghost Disturbed Church.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bonita, 1857 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Lind Grove post office opens
  3. 1890Post officeThe Lind Grove post office closes
  4. 1890Post officeThe Bonita post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1939Born hereBob Brown is born here
  8. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 574
By decade

Bonita, decade by decade

Today1 recent
LAMap-doton-Bonita2004LAMap-doton-Bonita
On the map

Bonita on the map, 1935 to 1988

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

Bonita on the 1935 USGS mapBonita on the 1958 USGS mapBonita on the 1988 USGS map1935Bonita 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 Bonita.

Every building

Bonita, building by building, 1922

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.

Bonita fire insurance map, 1922, sheet 11922Sheet 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.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Bonita’s post office has been open since 1890. Another post office, Lind Grove, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lind Grove
1857–1890
Bonita
1890–today
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Bonita Elementary Schoolschool

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

Questions about Bonita’s history

What year was Bonita founded?

The Bonita post office opened in 1890, 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 (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.