Do you know of Des Moines ???
This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Des Moines. When we encounter a name that is new to us, we add it to our Gazetteer with the hope that we'll discover more information in the future. Such is the case with Des Moines.<1>
Our sources for Des Moines (see Mentions and References below) indicate that it was a community with a post office by the same name. Unfortunately our sources aren't clear about the location of Des Moines other than they indicate that Des Moines would be found somewhere in Prairie County, Arkansas.
From the Blevins / Hellbock List: The post office opened in 1880 and closed in 1882.
Communities Also Named Des Moines ...
We found five communities that share the name Des Moines.
Within Arkansas, the name Des Moines is unique.
Beyond Arkansas, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Orange County
- Please visit our profile page for the California community of Des Moines [Orange County].
- Iowa
- Polk County
- Please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Des Moines [Polk County].
- New Mexico
- Colfax County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Des Moines [Colfax County].
- Union County
- Please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Des Moines [Union County].
- Washington
- King County
- Please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Des Moines [King County].
- California
Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Des Moines ...
We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about Des Moines:
Found in a comprehensive list of Post Offices that was created by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<3>
William Bradley Map (1889)
Published by William M. Bradley and Brothers
More Orphans in Prairie County ...
Can you help?
As we explained above, when we encounter a name that might be a community or a post office we add it to our Gazetteer. If we have little information to go with the name, we call them Orphans. Below are Orphans that we believe to be located in Prairie County.
| Belcher | Paradise |
| Bradix | Prairie Centre |
| Center Point | Samterville |
| Childress | Stinesville |
| Surrounded Hill | |
| Eighty-Eight Mile Post | |
| Thomasville | |
| Four Mile Corner | Twilight |
| Francisville | |
| Wylie |
Footnotes ...
| <1> | This entry could have originated in error. It might be that a source had a misprint, was simply wrong or we made a transcription error while referencing it. Many of the documents we reference are from the 1800s and the early 1900s, with some easier to read than others. |
| <2> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Des Moines could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <3> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |