Charleston Commercial Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

From the record

“The Charleston Commercial Historic District encompasses the historic commercial center of Charleston, Arkansas. Extending along East Main Street between Tilden Street and Arkansas Highway 217, the district includes primarily single-story masonry commercial buildings built between 1900 and 1940.”
Wikipedia article Charleston Commercial Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 22 National Register listings published here for Franklin County · listed in 2008 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 17 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
Address. Main St. roughly from AR 217 to Tilden St., Charleston, 72933
When was it listed? May 2008
Category. district
Township. Prairie township
National Register reference number. 08000462 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

23 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Charleston Commercial Historic District between 1998 and 2017, burning about 267 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	10
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	6
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Natural	2
Arson/incendiarism	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 1998	Arson/incendiarism	2.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
7 September 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
5 September 1998	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
21 September 2000	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
12 September 2009	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
7 August 2007	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
4 August 2011	Natural	2.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
4 August 2006	Natural	2.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Storms near this property

60 of 104 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Charleston, the town this property stands in, in 104 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 52 thunderstorm wind, 31 hail, 11 flash flood, 7 tornado. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
April 2011	Tornado (EF1)	Charleston	2 hurt, $30,000	A tornado rolled a trailer, damaged the roofs of two permanent homes, damaged two chicken houses, and snapped or uprooted a number of trees. Two people were injured in the trailer that was damaged. Maximum estimated wind in the tornado based on this damage was about 105 mph.
July 2021	Flash Flood	Charleston	$250,000	Flood water caused minor damage to twenty homes in Ozark, and damaged portions of several roads in southwestern Franklin County.
March 2000	Hail	Charleston	$200,000	no account filed
April 2022	Hail	Charleston	$150,000	Hail larger than baseball size damaged homes, businesses, and vehicles.
April 2022	Hail	Charleston	$100,000	Hail larger than hen egg size damaged homes, businesses, and vehicles.
December 2015	Flood	Charleston	$100,000	A bridge northwest of Charleston was washed out at the intersection of Jetton and Kiene roads.
September 2025	Flash Flood	Charleston	$50,000	Portions of several roads were flooded in and around Charleston, with flood water entering some residences.
April 2022	Hail	Charleston	$50,000	Golf ball size hail damaged homes, businesses, and vehicles.
May 2018	Tornado (EF1)	Charleston	$50,000	This tornado developed south of Highway 60 near Grand Prairie Road where large tree limbs were snapped. It moved east-northeast uprooting trees and snapping large limbs. The tornado moved northeast from N Bradbury Street to near the Highway 41 and Highway 60 intersection, where trees were uprooted and large limbs were snapped. East of Highway 41, the tornado moved east-northeast along and across Highway 288 and Compressor Road, where outbuildings were destroyed, chicken houses were damaged, and trees were uprooted. The tornado dissipated before reaching Highway 23. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 85 to 95 mph.
October 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$50,000	Thunderstorm winds uprooted some trees and damaged several roofs on houses.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$40,000	Strong thunderstorm wind heavily damage a metal building and caused minor damage to several other buildings.
April 2022	Tornado (EF1)	Charleston	$25,000	This tornado damaged a home, damaged several outbuildings, and uprooted or snapped trees. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 90 to 100 mph.
April 2021	Flash Flood	Charleston	$25,000	Portions of Highway 22 were flooded. A home in Charleston was flooded, requiring the resident to be rescued.
May 2019	Tornado (EF1)	Charleston	$25,000	This is the second segment of a two-segment tornado. Shortly after crossing into Franklin County, this tornado uprooted trees on Robertson Road. It continued northeast uprooting trees, damaging the roofs of homes, and damaging chicken houses on Jetton Road and Highway 217. The tornado dissipated east of N Rattlesnake Road. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in this segment of the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.
March 2018	Hail	Charleston	$20,000	no account filed
November 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$15,000	A barn was destroyed north of Charleston. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down throughout Franklin County.
April 2016	Tornado (EF1)	Charleston	$10,000	This tornado uprooted a number of trees and blew down power poles. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 85 to 95 mph.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down power poles and lines on Arkansas Highway 22.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm wind damaged the metal roof of a building at Fort Chaffee military installation.
September 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down multiple utility poles and power lines.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down power poles.
August 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down power lines.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down trees and power lines on Highway 22 in Charleston.
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour damaged a few poultry houses.
January 1998	Lightning	Charleston	$4,000	Lightning struck a home in Charleston, resulting in some electrical damage to the home. Several appliances in the home sustained damage.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$3,000	Strong thunderstorm wind uprooted a tree, snapped a power pole, and damaged poultry buildings.
October 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$3,000	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down power lines.
April 2026	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$2,000	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a tree onto power lines.
September 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$2,000	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down power lines on Adams Street.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$2,000	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a large tree, and snapped power poles.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$2,000	Strong thunderstorm wind snapped large tree limbs, and blew down power poles.
August 2009	Lightning	Charleston	$2,000	Lightning struck a piano workshop and resulted in a fire.
March 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm wind snapped a utility pole.
February 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$1,000	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew in a window of a house.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$1,000	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew trees and power lines down.
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$1,000	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down power lines.
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$1,000	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down large tree limbs and power lines. A tree was blown down onto Highway 22, blocking it to through traffic. Half of the city was without power at one time.
January 1999	Hail	Charleston	$1,000	Large hail caused minor roof damage to the Charleston Post Office. Hail covered the ground in Charleston.
March 2000	Tornado (F0)	Charleston	$500	A tornado touched down east of Bloomer in Sebastian County and tracked into Franklin County before lifting just west of Charleston. Only tree damage was observed.
September 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$500	Thunderstorm winds blew down power lines.
August 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$500	Several trees were blown down.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$500	Several trees blown down
November 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$300	Several trees in the city of Charleston were uprooted.
April 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$100	Thunderstorm winds blew a large tree down onto Highway 22.
May 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$100	Thunderstorm winds blew down large tree limbs.
April 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	$100	Tree downed by tstm winds
November 2022	Tornado (EFU)	Charleston	-	This is the second segment of a two segment tornado that moved into Franklin County from Sebastian County. The tornado produced a tornadic debris signature (TDS) from the KSRX WSR-88D that persisted from at least 722 pm through 728 pm. The TDS/debris was likely a result of damage to trees, based on aerial imagery. An NWS Tulsa survey team attempted to investigate the area where the damage occurred, but could not access the area. Since no damage could be evaluated, the tornado was rated EF-unknown.
January 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Strong thunderstorm winds blew down large tree limbs.
June 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts were estimated to 65 mph by personnel with the Charleston Fire Department.
October 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Strong thunderstorm wind uprooted trees and snapped numerous large tree limbs. Several streets were blocked by fallen trees in town.
October 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down trees onto Highway 20 on the west side of town.
April 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Strong thunderstorm wind uprooted several small trees.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Several large tree limbs were blown down by strong thunderstorm wind.
April 2015	Flash Flood	Charleston	-	A few streets in town were closed due to high water.
May 2015	Flash Flood	Charleston	-	Several roads on the east side of town were flooded.
October 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down large tree limbs.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a few trees and numerous large tree limbs.
May 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down several large tree limbs.
June 2008	Flash Flood	Charleston	-	Heavy rain caused numerous city streets to be flooded.
December 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Charleston	-	Thunderstorm winds estimated at 60 miles an hour blew down tree limbs.

Every storm recorded in Franklin County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Franklin County Courthouse, Southern District	0.2 miles	1976
	Singleton Family Cemetery	2.4 miles	2005

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 08000462 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Franklin County	All 22 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.