–Not graded

History · Arthur

30% of Arthur’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Z. C. B. J. Hall. Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1990.

1on the National Register

30%homes built before 1940

What stands out about Arthur’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 Arthur are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Arthur, and 3 old place names are still on the map.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Arthur’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Drywood

1875–1902

Eleanor

1895–1903

Cobban

1904–1934

18701950today

Hamlets and corners on the map

CobbanCrescentDrywood

Gone or out of use

Big Drywood SchoolschoolEleanor SchoolschoolMatott SchoolschoolMitchell SchoolschoolNew Schoolschool

2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Arthur

BohemianPine Grove

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

The story

How Arthur came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Arthur.

Read it all →

The outlines of the 6-mile squares that would become Arthur were first surveyed in 1848 by a crew working for the U.S. government. In 1849 a different crew marked the section corners of the township, walking through the woods and swamps, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description of the 6-by-6-mile (9.7 by 9.7 km) square which became the east half of Arthur and the west part of Colburn:

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Arthur, 1875 to 1951

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

19th century
1875Post officeThe Drywood post office opens
1895Post officeThe Eleanor post office opens
20th century
1902Post officeThe Drywood post office closes
1903Post officeThe Eleanor post office closes
1904Post officeThe Cobban post office opens
1907BuiltZ. C. B. J. Hall is built
1934Post officeThe Cobban post office closes
1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

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.

Add from your album

On the map

Arthur on the map, 1951 to 1980

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

1951Cornell 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 Arthur.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Arthur

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1992

Z. C. B. J. Hall

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian1

Z. C. B. J. HallLate Victorian · Built 1907

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Arthur, census by census

Between 710 and 771 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Arthur

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

See all →

Seymour CrayApplied mathematician, computer scientist, and … · b. 1925

Alexander WileyAmerican politician · b. 1884

Eddy WallerActor · b. 1889

Andy NorthAmerican golfer, PGA Tour member, U.S. Open cha… · b. 1950

Judy HenskeAmerican singer-songwriter · b. 1936

Gary ReinekeCanadian actor · b. 1940

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Eagle PointIts storyC AnsonIts storyC⁺ColburnIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town GoetzIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town EstellaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Arthur’s history

What is on the National Register in Arthur?

One place: the Z. C. B. J. Hall (listed 1992).

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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.

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