Photograph by Lester Jones, Photographer, Public domain. Via
Wikimedia Commons.
Arrow Rock
A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
From the record
“Arrow Rock Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District encompassing the village of Arrow Rock, Missouri and the adjacent Arrow Rock State Historic Site. The Arrow Rock area was where the historic Santa Fe Trail crossed the Missouri River, and was thus a key stopping point during the settlement of the American West.”
Wikipedia article Arrow Rock Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 26 National Register listings published here for Saline County · listed in 1966 · category: District · a National Historic Landmark.
National Register reference number.66000422- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
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.
Regional 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
20 workings within 5 miles of Arrow Rock: 19 past producers, 1 unknown.
None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Barium-Barite, Lead, Zinc, Barium-Barite, Lead, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Arrow Rock, the town this property stands in, 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.
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
6 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.
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.
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.
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