Arrow Rock, Missouri
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Arrow Rock Township. It lies in ZIP code area 65320. It stands on Spring Branch. The Survey maps it on the Arrow Rock quadrangle. 60 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 709 feet above sea level.
On record in Arrow Rock
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 8 records
Arrow RockNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
George Caleb Bingham HouseNational Historic Landmark · listed 1966
Arrow Rock State Historic Site Bridgelisted 1985
Arrow Rock State Historic Site Grave Shelterlisted 1985
Arrow Rock State Historic Site Open Shelterlisted 1985
Arrow Rock Tavernlisted 1972
William B. Sappington Houselisted 1970- Arrow Rock State Historic Site Lookout Shelterlisted 1985
Population over time
2 figuresArrow Rock grew from 56 to 60 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 56 | |
| 2020 | 60 | +4 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 17 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1890 USGS Glasgow quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1947 USGS Glasgow quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Moberly quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Moberly quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Moberly quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Moberly quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Arrow Rock quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Moberly quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
6,926 words on this townshipHistory of Saline County, Missouri, Carefully Written and Compiled from the Most Authentic Official and Private Sources ... with a Condensed History of Missouri; the State Constitution; a Military Record of Its Volunteers in Either Army of the Great Civil War ... Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men .., published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Arrow Rock Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
The place was formerly called "Me Arrow Rock." As such it was know by the early French voyageurs, and the trappers and hunters. This name was given to the large rock or cliff at the town. Upon the formation of the town it was christened after the rock.
Another version of the origin of the name is that given by Mr. Nowlin, an old citizen. The Indians, in the long ago, were in the habit of crossing the river at this point, in the summer, from their encampments in the bottom, on the opposite side, where the heat, at that season, was uncommonly intense and severe. This side of the river gained, they would repair to the high bluffs, to cool off. One particularly rocky point was a favorite resort, for there a cooling breeze almost constantly swept and fanned the swarthy brows of the perspiring savages. This point was called the " Windy Rock," or the "Airy Rock," and the latter designation became the more common. When Mr. Ferrell established his ferry he called it the "Airy Rock Ferry." In time this name became corrupted or changed to Arrow Rock, and was thus known ever after. It is said that the Tennesseeans pronounced the word arrow as if it was spelled arry, or airy, and when they heard the place called Airy Rock, understood it to mean Arrow Rock.
Mr. J. T. Pattison states that the first ferrying was done here by Mr. Becknel, in 1811. The crossing was made by having two canoes fastened together and a platform on top. Mr. Becknel afterward represented Saline county in the Missouri legislature. On the 23d of May, 1829, a meeting was held at the Arrow Rock ferry, for the purpose of receiving propositions, made by different parties, wishing to donate land for the town site; and Joseph Huston, Peyton N. Nowlin, Rudolph Hawpe, Joseph Patterson, and Benjamin Huston were appointed commissioners to select a town site, and receive deed to the same. They made choice of the present location, which was deeded to them on the 10th day of June, 1829, by Burton Lawless and Nancy, his wife, and by John Bingham and Mary, his wife, and containing fifty acres. Also, the free use and benefit of all the springs and water that may be on any of the lands of said Lawless, near and adjoining the said town tract of land, for the benefit of the citizens of said town in general. M. M. Marmaduke (afterward governor of the state) was county surveyor, and was employed by said commissioners to lay out the fifty acres into town lots. The first dwelling house built on the fifty acres donated for the town site, was built by Joseph Patterson, in the fall of 1829. The same timbers are yet in the house, which has been remodeled, and is now occupied.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Arrow Rock Township - it names this place 11 more 11 times.
Fires near this place
2 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Arrow Rock between 2018 and 2019, burning under an acre in total. None started naturally. None was 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 | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 179318-02729-04222019-1445 |
| 26 January 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Missouri Department of Conservation | 177772-02729-01262018-0449 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 19 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Arrow Rock: 18 past producers, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Barium-Barite, Lead, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Barium-Barite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poindexter Mine | Barium-Barite, Lead | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Barite | Barium-Barite | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - S+G | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Arrow Rock Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Old Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Arrow Rock in 2 storm reports between 1994 and 2006: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Arrow Rock | $5,000 | Large trees and power lines were knocked down. |
| March 2006 | Hail | Arrow Rock | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardeman | 3.6 miles | 18 | |
| Saline City | 4.9 miles | 16 | |
| Nelson | 6.9 miles | 18 | |
| Napton | 7.4 miles | 18 | |
| Wilton Springs | 9.2 miles | 18 | |
| Orearville | 9.8 miles | 18 | |
| Ridge Prairie | 10.2 miles | 18 | |
| West Glasgow | 10.8 miles | 16 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Arrow Rock | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q966847 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 713403. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.







