Most of Emerald Beach was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: maps from 1927 on and the census since 1990.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Emerald Beach yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Emerald Beach is a village in White River Township, Barry County, Missouri, United States. The community is located on a bend in the White River now Table Rock Lake. Cassville is approximately 13 miles to the northwest and Rogers, Arkansas is 32 miles to the southwest. It was incorporated in 1981. The village is served by the Golden Post Office and thus has a Golden address. As of the 2020 census, Emerald Beach had a population of 212.
Emerald Beach was established in 1981. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 228 to 212 (-7%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Emerald Beach. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1927Shell Knob 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 Emerald Beach.
People over time
Emerald Beach, census by census
Between 172 and 250 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Emerald Beach’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Emerald Beach’s history
What year was Emerald Beach founded?
In 1981, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1990 counted 172 people here.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
