Stamps is a city in Lafayette County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, United States. The population was 1,206 in 2024, a 28.78% decrease from the figure of 1,693 in 2010.

History

A post office has been in operation in Stamps since 1887. The community has the name of the local Stamps family. Stamps was the shop headquarters for the former

Louisiana and Arkansas Railway The Louisiana and Arkansas Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The railroad's main line extended 332 miles, from Hope, Arkansas to Shreveport and New Orleans. Branch lines served Vidalia, Loui ...

until the relocation in the early 1920s to

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

Webster Parish Webster Parish ( French: ''Paroisse de Webster'') is a parish located in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat and largest city is Minden. As of the 2020 census, the Webster Parish population was 36,967. Pu ...

in northern

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. Stamps has been noted on lists of

unusual place names Place names considered unusual can include those which are also offensive words, inadvertently humorous (especially if mispronounced) or highly charged words, as well as place names of unorthodox spelling and pronunciation, including especiall ...

. An early postmaster quipped that Stamps was "the only town in the U.S. that stamps Stamps on stamps".

Geography

Stamps is in northeastern Lafayette County in southwestern Arkansas.

U.S. Route 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a route extending from the White Sands of New ...

passes through the northern side of the city, leading west to Lewisville, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and east to Buckner.

Arkansas Highway 53 Highway 53 (AR 53, Ark. 53, and Hwy. 53) is a designation for two north–south state highways in Southwest Arkansas, United States. One route of begins at the Louisiana state line and runs north to US Highway 371 (US 371) south of Prescott ...

has its northern terminus at US 82 and leads south through the center of Stamps to the state line near

Springhill, Louisiana Springhill is a small city in the northernmost of Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,279 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 160 since 2000. Springhill is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area though it is ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 3.19%, are water. Lake June lies within the southern part of the city limits.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,258 people, 657 households, and 378 families residing in the city.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 2,131 people, 830 households, and 541 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,003 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 44.30%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 54.48%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.52% Native American, 0.09% Asian, 0.05%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, and 0.56% from two or more races. Of the population 0.61% was

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 830 households, out of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 21.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. Of all households 31.7% were made up of individuals, and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.10. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.1% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.6 males. The median income for a household in the town was $22,194, and the median income for a family was $26,591. Males had a median income of $25,667 versus $17,125 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $11,440. About 22.8% of families and 27.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 31.0% of those under age 18 and 24.2% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Public education for elementary and secondary students is provided by the Lafayette County School District, which includes Lafayette County Elementary School and Lafayette County High School. The school's mascot and athletic emblem is the Cougar. On July 1, 2003, the Stamps School District consolidated with the Lewisville School District to form the Lafayette County district.ConsolidationAnnex_from_1983.xls
."

Arkansas Department of Education The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) is a cabinet-level agency of the Arkansas state government overseeing public education for K-12, higher education institutions, and career and technical education. The ADE also contains the Arkansas ...

. Retrieved on October 13, 2017.

Infrastructure

Highways

U.S. Highway 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a route extending from the White Sands of New ...

Notable people

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credi ...

(1928–2014), author and poet, tells about growing up in the Black community of Stamps in ''

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' is a 1969 autobiography describing the young and early years of American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a Maya Angelou#Chronology of autobiographies, seven-volume series, it is a Bildungsroman, ...

'' * Black Ivory King (1899–1947), blues and boogie-woogie pianist, best known for his original version of the then popular train blues song, "The Flying Crow". * George Doherty (1920–1987), math and PE teacher in Stamps – football player and inspirational coach * Danny Ormand, retired Arkansas state employee, former Stamps Fire Chief *

Earl T. Ricks Earl T. Ricks (July 9, 1908 – January 4, 1954) was a senior officer of the United States Air National Guard who served as deputy chief of the National Guard Bureau, chief of the Air Force Division, National Guard Bureau (1950–1954), and acti ...

(1908–1954), raised in Stamps – United States Air Force major general * Rolling Thunder (1916–1997), born in Stamps – self-identified hippie medicine man

Gallery

File:Stamps, Arkansas (c. 1904).jpg, Stamps Ice & Fuel Company and a boxcar of the

, c. 1904 Image:Stamps, AR Fire Department IMG_8383.JPG, Stamps Fire Department Image:Bodcaw Bank, Stamps, AR IMG_8385.JPG, Bodcaw Bank in Stamps

References

{{authority control Cities in Arkansas Cities in Lafayette County, Arkansas