On January 1, 1893, the Paragould Southeastern Railway, originally a tramway, began construction to extend its mainline from Paragould, Arkansas eastward into the Missouri Bootheel. By November 1894, the line had been graded to the new townsite and it was being advertised in local papers that plotts were being sold. On January 19, 1895, the first train was reported to have arrived in Cardwell, and platting continued into the following year by the Bertig family of Paragould, AR, and a post office was established soon after. A school district was established for Cardwell in 1899, and that July a contract was let for the construction of a two story brick school building.
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 (6), 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.
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