Jennette (Crittenden County)

Historical Population as per the U.S. Census:

Jennette is a largely African-American town in western Crittenden County, located north of the Shearerville (Crittenden County) exit on Interstate 40. Jennette is variously spelled Jeanette, Jennettee, and Jenette.

The location of what is now Jennette was swampy hardwood forest until early in the twentieth century, when the Edwards Fair Lumber Company, based in Crawfordsville (Crittenden County), cleared the land. Various drainage ditches were dug to make the cleared land suitable for farming. The origin of the name Jennette is unknown.

Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church was established in Jennette around 1900. A post office opened in Jennette in February 1904 and continued operating until May 1927. A school was organized on the Baptist church property in 1908. The school served area children until the consolidation of school districts sent Jennette’s children to Crawfordsville; high school students traveled to Dunbar High School in Earle (Crittenden County). The schools in Crawfordsville and Earle were desegregated in the 1960s.

The residents of Jennette petitioned for incorporation in 1987. The incorporated area consists of roughly 1,300 acres, although two property owners protested being included in the town and successfully remained outside the town limits.

Jennette is primarily a residential area for families associated with farming. It has no major businesses or industries. In addition to the Baptist church, Jennette also has a Church of God in Christ and a nondenominational church named for nearby Shearerville.

For additional information:
Whayne, Jeannie, and Willard B. Gatewood, eds. The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1993.

Woolfolk, Margaret Elizabeth. A History of Crittenden County, Arkansas. Marion, AR: Southern Historical Press Inc., 1991.

Steven Teske
Butler Center for Arkansas Studies