Founding year: the first Clarks post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Clarks’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clarks is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clarks’ overall grade.
Louisiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Louisiana town has 3.8 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Clarks’ 13.0 sits above most of its state (70% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±14.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Clarks’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Clarks yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Clarks is a rural village in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Clarks had a population of 1,052. Clarks is the largest community by population in Caldwell Parish.
Its first post office opened in 1902. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,017 to 1,052 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Clarks, census by census
Between 650 and 1,345 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clarks’ Wikipedia page.
Questions about Clarks’ history
What year was Clarks founded?
The Clarks post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Clarks rank for history?
Clarks is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Clarks?
One place: the Oasis, The (listed 1989).
How old are the homes in Clarks?
19% of Clarks’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±14.7 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1972.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (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.
2004
