Stamps, AR

Stamps is a Lafayette County city in southwestern Arkansas, with a post office that has operated since 1887. U.S. Route 82 runs along the north side, five miles west of Lewisville, the county seat, and three miles east of Buckner. The city sits in the timber country of the state's southwest, where roads, rail, and pine forests shaped its early growth. The forest economy made Stamps a company-centered town for generations.

ATTRBilly Hathorn / CC BY-SA 3.0

Stamps grew with timber and rail. Bodcaw Lumber made the city its headquarters and operated a major yellow-pine sawmill; the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway placed its offices, shops, and freight traffic here. A railroad office and boxcar remain part of the city's historical memory, while Lafayette County School District serves elementary and secondary students through Lafayette County Elementary and Lafayette County High School. The town's map still shows the old arrangement: Route 82 on one edge, the rail corridor through the center, and the county's forest and farm country extending around it.