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History · Clark

Clark’s post office opened in 1887, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1890.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Clark began

When was Clark founded?

1887

The Clark post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Perche (1877), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 194 in 18902020 census: 254139 years
Founding year: the first Clark post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Clark’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 Clark are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
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The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clark’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Clark came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Clark.

Read it all →

A post office called Clark has been in operation since 1887. The community has the name of John Bullock Clark Jr., a five-term U.S. Congressman from Missouri.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Clark in 1887

Passages that mention Clark, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The elections were accordingly held, and the county court, on the 9th of November, 1866, found that a majority of the votes cast were in favor of establishing the seat of justice at Clark City, and thereupon ordered “ That the seat of justice of Clark County be and is hereby legally and permanently…
History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records ..1887 · page 285Read the page →
Read the text

The elections were accordingly held, and the county court, on the 9th of November, 1866, found that a majority of the votes cast were in favor of establishing the seat of justice at Clark City, and thereupon ordered “ That the seat of justice of Clark County be and is hereby legally and permanently established, as the law directs, at Clark City in the County of Clark and State of Mis¬ souri.” Afterward, at the December term of said court, a motion was filed to set aside the foregoing order made on the 9th day of

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
W eaver, the first settler of Clark County. It was the first town laid out in the territory composing the county, and at a time, too, when said territory belonged to Marion County. The plat of the town was recorded in Marion County June 26, 1830, in Lewis County December 25, 1833, and in Clark Coun…
History of Lewis, Clark, Knox, and Scotland counties, Missouri. From the earliest time to the present, together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and mumerous family records ..1887 · page 336Read the page →
Read the text

W eaver, the first settler of Clark County. It was the first town laid out in the territory composing the county, and at a time, too, when said territory belonged to Marion County. The plat of the town was recorded in Marion County June 26, 1830, in Lewis County December 25, 1833, and in Clark County May 14, 1838. The towm as laid out contained twrelve blocks of eight lots each, and a few fractional lots. It was located on the Des Moines River, in the northeast quarter of fractional Section 5,

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Clark, 1877 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Perche post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Perche post office closes
  4. 1887Post officeThe Clark post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Clark, decade by decade

Today15 recent
An Amish man and three boys in a horse-drawn wagon pass in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021An Amish man and three boys in a horse-drawn wagon pa…An Amish man and three boys in a horse-drawn wagon pass in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021An Amish man and three boys in a horse-drawn wagon pa…An Amish man and three boys in a horse-drawn wagon pass in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021An Amish man and three boys in a horse-drawn wagon pa…An Amish man and three boys in a horse-drawn wagon pass in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021An Amish man and three boys in a horse-drawn wagon pa…A long-haired horse and her foal in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021A long-haired horse and her foal in rural Missouri's …A long-haired horse and her foal in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021A long-haired horse and her foal in rural Missouri's …An Amish woman passes her house in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021An Amish woman passes her house in rural Missouri's "…Scene on an Amish farm in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021Scene on an Amish farm in rural Missouri's "Amish Cou…Scene on an Amish farm in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021Scene on an Amish farm in rural Missouri's "Amish Cou…Scene on an Amish farm in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021Scene on an Amish farm in rural Missouri's "Amish Cou…Scene on an Amish farm in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021Scene on an Amish farm in rural Missouri's "Amish Cou…A logging operation in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021A logging operation in rural Missouri's "Amish County…A logging operation in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021A logging operation in rural Missouri's "Amish County…Logging wagons in rural Missouri's "Amish County," near the town of Clark2021Logging wagons in rural Missouri's "Amish County," ne…A cluster of metal grain silos near Clark, Missouri2021A cluster of metal grain silos near Clark, Missouri
On the map

Clark on the map, 1953 to 1979

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

Clark on the 1953 USGS mapClark on the 1979 USGS map1953Clark 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 Clark.

People over time

Clark, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 334

Between 194 and 334 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Clark’s post office has been open since 1887. Another post office, Perche, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Perche
1877–1887
Clark
1887–today
18701950today

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

Questions about Clark’s history

What year was Clark founded?

The Clark post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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 the Library of Congress (15), 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.