Entries - County: Hempstead - Starting with O

Oakhaven is a town on State Highway 32, a few miles north of Hope (Hempstead County). Originally built as housing for officers serving at the Southwestern Proving Ground during World War II, Oakhaven has never had a post office or a school. Hempstead County was home to some of the most important communities of southwestern Arkansas in the early years of statehood. Fulton (Hempstead County) was an important port on the Red River and once served as the gateway to Mexico—later to Texas—while Washington (Hempstead County) was the county seat and an important city on the Southwest Trail; Washington even served as the Confederate state capital after Little Rock (Pulaski County) was captured by Federal forces in 1863. After the …

The Old Hempstead County Courthouse, located at 400 South Washington in Hope (Hempstead County), is a rectangular five-story structure with smaller two-story wings projecting north and south. The National Park Service listed the courthouse, which remained in use until 2022, on the National Register of Historic Places on May 19, 1994. The Little Rock (Pulaski County) architectural firm of McAnich and Anderson designed the building in the Art Deco style, often seen in government buildings of this period. Art Deco accents included recessed chevron panels above the fifth-floor windows and adornment of sunbursts and chevrons surrounding the main entry doors. Reliefs incorporated into this ornamentation represent the industries of Hempstead County. The flat roofline with parapet demonstrated another standard feature …

Ozan is a railroad town on U.S. Highway 278 in northern Hempstead County. Although never a large settlement, it has played a significant role in Arkansas history, particularly that of the Methodist Church in Arkansas. When European explorers first entered the land that would become Hempstead County, they encountered the Caddo, who lived in villages along the Red River. Europeans and Americans were particularly attracted to the rich soil of southwestern Arkansas. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the Caddo—whose numbers were greatly reduced due to diseases introduced by Europeans—gradually were pushed out of the area, ending up in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) by the time Arkansas achieved statehood in 1836. The name Ozan appears to be a form of …