Moffett incorporated in 1928. Its population was 340 at the 1930 census, and peaked at 538 in 1940. Before and during World War II, the town's bars and gambling establishments attracted soldiers from nearby Fort Smith, Arkansas and Camp Chaffee. The U.S. Army declared Moffett "off limits" during the war, and kept the ban in place until the mid-1970s. The town began a long decline after World War II. The 1960 census counted 357 residents, and the decline has continued to the present.