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History · Seligman

Seligman’s post office opened in 1880, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1916 on, and the census since 1960.

1880first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Seligman’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Seligman began

When was Seligman founded?

1880

The Seligman post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 387 in 19602020 census: 813146 years
Founding year: the first Seligman post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Seligman’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Seligman’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Seligman’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSeligman, Late 19th Century: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Seligman came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Seligman.

Read it all →

During French exploration, what was to become Seligman was in the heart of the Osage Nation. The French claimed it as part of the Illinois Country, selling it to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Osage claims were ceded by the Treaty of Fort Clark, which was ratified in 1810.

Seligman originally developed from a small trading post that built up around or near the homestead of Andrew, George, John, Joshua, and Jacob Roller from Scott County, Virginia, some of the first permanent European settlers to arrive in the area in the 1830s. At that time the region was a rough-hewn wilderness covered with large timber.

ChaptersBefore the Louisiana PurchaseEarly settlersCivil WarReconstructionArrival of the railroadSetbacks20th century21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Seligman, 1880 to 1938

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880In the archiveSeligman, Late 19th Century
  3. 1880Post officeThe Seligman post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1937On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1938In the archiveIn Arkansas Hills (Ozarks) near Seligman, Missouri, splitting hickory for chair-bottoms. …
By decade

Seligman, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item
Seligman, Late 19th Century1880Seligman, Late 19th Century
1890s–1920snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1930s2 items
In Arkansas Hills (Ozarks) near Seligman, Missouri, splitting hickory for chair-bottoms. His father before him and his …1938In Arkansas Hills (Ozarks) near Seligman, Missouri, s…In Arkansas Hills (Ozarks) near Seligman, Missouri, splitting hickory for chair-bottoms. His father before him and his …1938In Arkansas Hills (Ozarks) near Seligman, Missouri, s…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
Union Church2013Union ChurchSeligman Sunbeam, Nov. 1 18902013Seligman Sunbeam, Nov. 1 1890Downtown Seligman MO Hires 1120122007Downtown Seligman MO Hires 112012MOMap-doton-Seligman2004MOMap-doton-Seligman
On the map

Seligman on the map, 1937 to 1999

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

Seligman on the 1937 USGS mapSeligman on the 1944 USGS mapSeligman on the 1974 USGS mapSeligman on the 1999 USGS map1937Cassville 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 Seligman.

Every building

Seligman, building by building, 1916

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.

Seligman fire insurance map, 1916, sheet 11916Sheet 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.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Seligman, Late 19th Century
Retake this viewSeligman, Late 19th Century, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Seligman’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Seligman, census by census

02004006008001960198020002020Peak: 877

Between 387 and 877 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Seligman

Nobody well known was born in Seligman itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Asa HutchinsonGovernor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023 · b. 1950
Matt CornettAmerican actor · b. 1998
Dabbs GreerAmerican actor (1917−2007) · b. 1917
Tim HutchinsonAmerican politician · b. 1949
Loy W. HendersonAmerican diplomat · b. 1892
D
Duane IselyAmerican botanist · b. 1918
Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Seligman’s post office has been open since 1880.

Gone or out of use
Lone Star Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Seligman
Seligman

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

Questions about Seligman’s history

What year was Seligman founded?

The Seligman post office opened in 1880, 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 (5), the Library of Congress (2), 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 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.