Entries - Entry Category: Counties, Cities, and Towns

Rubicon (Saline County)

A historic rural community in Dyer Township in Saline County during the late 1800s and early 1900s, Rubicon was located in the vicinity of the Alum Fork of the Saline River. Modern maps have it situated along Arkansas State Highway 9 approximately two miles north of the intersection of Arkansas State Highways 9 and 5 at Crows (Saline County), approximately thirteen miles west of Benton (Saline County) and twenty-one miles east of Hot Springs (Garland County). Early settlers to the area were hardy pioneers who farmed and hunted the rich lands along the Saline River and eastern Ouachita Mountains. One of the earliest families to arrive in the area were the Dyers, for whom the township was named. Charles Dyer …

Ruddell Hill (Independence County)

aka: Ruddell (Independence County)

Ruddell Mill, one of the first water-powered mills in the White River valley, was built in Independence County by John Francis Ruddell and his uncle, Abraham (Abram) Ruddell, shortly after their arrival in Arkansas in 1814. Brothers Abraham and George Ruddell from Kentucky founded a settlement at a place called Dry Run Creek, near Polk Bayou (a.k.a. Poke Bayou), around 1817. The city of Batesville (Independence County) annexed the community of Ruddell Hill in 1947. The still-visible ruins of the old mill, with their notable stonework, are a main historical site for Independence County. According to local history, the entire Isaac Ruddell family was captured by the Shawnee in Kentucky. In 1782, they were all released except Ruddell’s sons Abraham …

Ruddells (Izard County)

The once-thriving unincorporated settlement of Ruddells in Izard County, located near the White River in the southwest corner of the county, was a major producer of quick lime for approximately twenty-five years during the early part of the twentieth century. Today, little remains of the settlement other than the abandoned mines and a cemetery. The mining of lime is said to have begun in the area as early as 1906. At that time, what would become Ruddells was known as East Sylamore. A post office opened there on December 18, 1905. On February 7, 1911, it was renamed Ruddells, with William W. Brooks as postmaster. The name had been changed to honor Abraham Ruddells, father-in-law of early mine owner Edgar …

Rudy (Crawford County)

Rudy is a town in Crawford County, about five miles northwest of Van Buren (Crawford County). State Highways 282 and 348 both pass through the town. Both before and after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Osage hunted and fished in northwestern Arkansas, including the region where Rudy is now located. In 1817, the present location of Rudy was included in land ceded to the Cherokee, who moved into Arkansas Territory from eastern states. A treaty signed in 1828 moved the Cherokee farther west, opening the land for white settlement. The first white settlers in what would become Rudy were families with the last names of Green and Bell, arriving in 1830 and 1835, respectively. A school building built from logs …

Rush (Marion County)

Marion County lays claim to the only ghost town between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The remains of the prosperous zinc-mining town of Rush attained this status almost fifty years ago. A true ghost town exhibits the physical existence of structures, including buildings, and a zero population. During the early 1880s, prospectors came to the Rush area in search of lost silver mines from Indian legends and found shiny metallic flakes believed to be silver concentrated in the rocks. Within a short time, news of the discovery spread like wildfire throughout the Mid-South, making eyes from far away turn to the hills of Arkansas, focusing on the mineral wealth near the Buffalo and White Rivers. A rock smelter …

Rushing (Stone County)

Rushing is located in Turkey Creek Township on Highway 9 just south of where Highway 263 merges with it for a short distance traveling east. Rushing is in the rugged hills of the Ozark Mountains, with rocky soil unsuited for large crops. Because of the difficulty in making a living from farming there and because of its isolation, Rushing did not attract settlers until after the Civil War. Only a few hunters and trappers ventured through the wooded mountains, which were full of small game such as squirrels and rabbits as well as deer and bears. Turkey Creek had plentiful fish and beavers. Settlers began subsistence farming along Turkey and Brushy creeks following the Civil War. The passage of the …

Russell (White County)

Russell sits along U.S. Highway 67 and Arkansas Highway 367 in White County. In the late 1880s, Russell Kaufman, an employee of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company, was in the area locating sites for the railroad company to store supplies at five-mile increments, and he platted the town that would eventually bear his name. In 1875, a post office in the area opened named Russell, but the name was changed to Plants 1878 and back to Russell in 1884. In 1922, a house bought from the Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog was built in Russell for the Klotz family on what is now Highway 367. The building still stands in the twenty-first century. Also around this time, …

Russellville (Pope County)

Russellville is located on Lake Dardanelle, approximately halfway between Little Rock (Pulaski County) and Fort Smith (Sebastian County), and is the seat of Pope County. The largest town in the county, it is home to Arkansas’s only nuclear power plant, Arkansas Nuclear One. A major business center of the area, it is home to ten divisions of Fortune 500 companies and Arkansas Tech University. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood In the early 1800s, Osage from Missouri hunted frequently in the valley where Russellville is located. Between 1818 and 1828, the area was within a Cherokee reservation, but after 1828 the Cherokee were removed to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), and the land became available for white settlement. P. C. Holledger was …

Rutherford (Independence County)

Rutherford is a historic community that was located in the White River Township. It grew out of the Rutherford Landing on the White River across from the Goodie Creek Valley, along the Jackson Military Road. The landing was originally part of the August Friend-Furnash Spanish grants from 1763 to 1800. The landing was at Russell’s Ferry (a.k.a. Wyatt’s Ferry), today Russell Ferry Road. Wyatt Ferry was licensed in 1817 to John Wyatt, who operated it for about a year, and licensed in November 1818 to John L. Lafferty. The Jackson Military Road, established in 1831 to parallel the old Southwest Trail, entered Independence County in the Hazel Grove community, continued through Walnut Grove, crossing Dota Creek at Pleasant Hill, traversed …

Saddle (Fulton County)

The small community of Saddle in Fulton County was first known as Sharp’s Mill, having been founded by Ephraim Sharp of Fulton County, the nephew of Ephraim Sharp of Sharp County—for whom he was named. It is located in eastern Fulton County on Arkansas Highway 289. Sharp left Indiana for Arkansas around 1850, eventually settling in Fulton County. He married Mary Elizabeth Wainwright, the daughter of William Wainwright, a prominent businessman in Fulton County. Sharp purchased 120 acres on the South Fork of the Spring River and continued to add to his tract, reaching 400 acres or more. In about 1868, he and his father-in-law established a mercantile business, and Sharp became the sole owner of it in 1873. About …

Saffell (Lawrence County)

Saffell is an unincorporated community in Reeds Creek Township located at the junction of Arkansas Highway 25 and Arkansas Highway 361 about three and a half miles south-southeast of Strawberry (Lawrence County). Saffell lies approximately four miles northwest of the confluence of the Strawberry and Black rivers. Farming is important to the livelihood of the community. In 2015, the population of the Saffell area was estimated at 190. Osage Indians once claimed the Strawberry and Black river bottoms, along with most of northern Arkansas, as their hunting grounds. Burial mounds are located across the Strawberry River from Saffell on the old White Plantation. French hunters, trappers, and fur traders, mostly from Canada, plied the Strawberry and Black rivers in the …

Saginaw (Hot Spring County)

Saginaw is an unincorporated community located in Hot Spring County about eight miles southwest of Malvern (Hot Spring County) and four miles northeast of Midway (Hot Spring County). The community’s settlement was closely associated with the Ouachita River, which is about one mile to its east. Early landowners include Joseph Cunningham, who obtained a land patent for just under 120 acres in 1837. Robert Stribling received a land patent for forty acres located near Saginaw in 1845. At the same time, he received title to an additional eighty acres in a neighboring section. In the 1850 census, Stribling appears with his wife and five sons, as well as twenty-one slaves. He owned $5,500 in real estate and continued to acquire …

Salado (Independence County)

Salado is one of the oldest communities in Arkansas, with history going back to territorial days. Salado is located in the Ozark foothills about seven miles southeast of Batesville (Independence County) on Highway 14 (also called Newport Road) and about a mile southwest of the White River. The most colorful account of town’s name stems from the oft-told tale of how a young woman named Sally was washing clothes in a creek when a deer suddenly appeared. She attacked the deer with a battling stick and brought home a doe for supper, hence “Sally killed a doe,” or “Sallydoe.” Most likely, however, the name is of Spanish or French origin. The French term “sal d’eau,” roughly translated as “salty water,” …

Salem (Fulton County)

Salem, the seat of Fulton County, is located at the foot of Pilot Knob. The clear water of the South Fork of the Spring River runs through the northeastern boundaries of Salem and provides recreational opportunities, such as fishing and floating, as does the nearby Strawberry River. The hills and rivers provide scenic views for the many tourists who visit the Salem area each year. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood William P. Morris is credited with establishing the town of Salem when he came to the area in 1839. When he saw Pilot Knob, he decided to stake the land grant claim he received for serving in the War of 1812 near it. Fulton County was organized in 1842 by …

Salem (Saline County)

The unincorporated community of Salem is approximately two and a half miles north of Benton (Saline County) within Salem Township in Saline County. The community owes its existence to its association with the Salem United Methodist Church and the family of William Milton Scott. While there were early settlers in the vicinity of Salem, the community developed after 1833 with the migration of the Scott family from Alabama. In that year, William M. Scott and his family settled on the Military Road about three miles northeast of Benton. Being active in the Methodist denomination, he erected a brush arbor for a camp meeting as early as 1834. It was known locally as Scott’s Campground. Scott’s son, Patrick M. Scott, professed …

Salesville (Baxter County)

Salesville is a city in Baxter County that remained a small unincorporated settlement until construction of the Norfork Dam. The city is located a few miles north of the city of Norfork (Baxter County) on State Highway 5. Salesville was incorporated in 1968. Salesville is named for John Sales, who moved to Arkansas from South Carolina before 1860. His first land grant was received in May 1860. He built a house near the Old Salt Trail, a road used to transport salt and other staples that had been shipped by steamboat to the Jacob Wolf House on the White River and were on their way north to customers in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. John’s wife, Peggy, made and sold yellow cheese …

Saline County

Saline County is one of the state’s oldest counties, having been formed in 1835 when Arkansas was still a territory. Named for the salt works that were established in the area during the county’s early years, it was a key county in the mid-twentieth century and served as a center of activity for workers from the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) and Reynolds mining operations. At one time, the mines produced more than ninety percent of all aluminum ore produced in the United States. Saline County contains a diverse geography, ranging from the mountainous areas of the northwest to the flatter plain areas of the southeast. The Saline River runs roughly north to south; its tributaries are in the hills …

Saline Crossing (Saline County)

aka: Saline Crossings

Saline Crossing was a community in Saline County that once vied for the position of county seat. During the late territorial period, in 1831, William Lockhart was granted the right to build a toll bridge there, although people could still ford the stream for free. This site was later used by Native American tribes during their removal through Arkansas until 1840. Every traveler following the Old Military Road or Southwest Trail from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Rockport (Hot Spring County) crossed the Saline River at that location. In the twenty-first century, the area that once hosted the historical community lies around the Old River Bridge at the end of River Street in Benton (Saline County). No physical remnants of …

Sanders (Hot Spring County)

Sanders is an unincorporated community in Hot Spring County located about one mile northeast of De Roche (Hot Spring County) and thirteen miles west of Malvern (Hot Spring County). The community is along Arkansas Highway 128 just north of its intersection with Arkansas Highway 84. The community’s name came from early settler Elihu Sanders. Sanders received a Federal Land Patent for forty acres in the area in 1850. Born in North Carolina, Sanders operated a farm and lived with his wife, Margaret Sanders, and their eight children according to the 1850 federal census. A post office operated from 1886 to 1917. Sources show that Sanders served as the initial postmaster and that the post office was named in his honor, …

Sandtown (Independence County)

Sandtown is an unincorporated community of about twenty families located on Sandtown Road in Jefferson Township about five and a half miles west-southwest of Cave City (Sharp and Independence counties) and about nine and a half miles north of Batesville (Independence County). Local historian Charles Prier believes the settlement’s name comes from the white sand (or silica) found on the sandbar at the confluence of Sullivan Creek and Dry Creek in Sandtown. By 1849, a large range of manganese ore deposits had been discovered in northwestern Independence County with a spillover into Sharp, Izard, and Stone counties. This discovery came to be labeled the Batesville District, with Cushman (Independence County) at its center; the district also contained Sandtown. William Einstein …

Sardis (Saline County)

Sardis is a small unincorporated community located roughly twelve miles east of Benton (Saline County). Sardis is one of two communities that make up Saline County’s Hurricane Township, the other being Fairview. For many years, Sardis had a unique and beloved landmark known as the Shoe Tree. Saline County was cut from Arkansas’s Pulaski County on November 2, 1835, by the Territorial Legislature. Afterward, the county was divided into townships, with the area around Hurricane Creek being named Hurricane Township. White settlers and farmers began to move into what are now Sardis and Fairview before statehood. In 1869, Sardis Methodist Church South was built on a parcel of land that had been donated by a woman called “Grandmother” Roark. Members …

Scott (Pulaski and Lonoke Counties)

Scott is a small community on the line between Pulaski County and Lonoke County, north of the Arkansas River. Surrounded by farmland and by oxbow lakes, Scott is also near two state parks and several historic properties. Over the centuries, events such as floods, droughts, and—most recently—human construction have altered the path of the Arkansas River. Remnants of former sections of the river remain near Scott as oxbow lakes, particularly Bearskin Lake, Horseshoe Lake, and Willow Beach Lake. More than 1,000 years ago, a complex formation of mounds was created near what is now called Mound Pond. The site was farmed in the nineteenth century but was later preserved as Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park. Not only did the …

Scott County

Scott County is located on the west-central boundary of Arkansas in the Ouachita Mountain region of the state. The topography of the area is mountainous and interspersed with expansive valleys along the Fourche LaFave, Petit Jean, and Poteau rivers and associated tributaries. The community of Waldron and portions of Mansfield are the two primary municipalities within Scott County. Major communities in Scott County are Abbott, Bates, Blue Ball, Boles, Cauthron, Cedar Creek, Harvey, Hon, Needmore, Nola, Parks, Union Hill, Winfield, and Y City. Pre-European Exploration Although little is known of those living in the area prior to 1,000 years ago, the first inhabitants of the Scott County area arrived millennia prior to any European exploration of the area. Over 2,500 …

Scranton (Logan County)

Investors seeking to profit from coal mining established the city of Scranton in Logan County early in the twentieth century. Although the nearby coal mines did not prove to be profitable, Scranton survived and flourished, becoming for a time one of the largest cities in Logan County. James Murphey was the first owner of the land on which Scranton would be built. His deed to the land was registered in 1838, and Murphey bought additional land adjacent to his first lot in 1839 and in 1843. It remained farmland until 1907, when Harmon Remmel led a group of investors to purchase land in Logan County for a city that would be a center of mining operations. They named their city for …

Searcy (White County)

Searcy has been the White County seat since the county’s organization in 1835. Located on the Little Red River near the county’s geographic center, the city continues to be the county’s commercial, educational, and healthcare center. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood The Little Red River and the White Sulphur Springs figure in Searcy’s founding. On the west bank of the Little Red, below the mouth of Gin Creek, a Spanish land grant was surveyed for Frenchman Jean LaFayac (LaBass) and patented to him in 1805. By 1834, the White Sulphur Springs, developed by Samson Gray, were attracting visitors with their healing properties. The home of David Crise, about halfway between the springs and the river, was the site of the …

Searcy County

Searcy County is in the Boston Mountains and the Springfield Plateau sections of the Ozark Plateau. Marshall is the county seat and commercial center; Leslie is significant for the Missouri and North Arkansas (M&NA) railroad and timber products; and St. Joe, an old mining center, was also on the railroad and is the first town along Arkansas 65 north of the Buffalo River. Farther northwest is Pindall, an old railroad stop first known as Kilburn Switch, and the old regional commercial center became home to two timber manufacturing companies. Gilbert, another railroad stop, and on the Buffalo River, was originally a point for logs and cotton taken down the river to be placed on the M&NA. In the early 1920s, …

Sebastian County

Sebastian County is located on Arkansas’s western border in the natural division known as the Arkansas Valley. The Arkansas River forms the county’s northern border, while its southern border touches upon the Ouachita Mountains. The county is home to Fort Smith, one of the state’s largest cities, as well as Fort Chaffee, and in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was the site of the state’s largest coal-mining operations. From the earliest days of the territorial period to the present, Sebastian County has served as a major transportation corridor to points west. Pre-European Exploration The Arkansas Valley region served as a place of residence to Native Americans since the last Ice Age, and there are hundreds of pre-contact …

Sedgwick (Lawrence County)

Sedgwick, a town in eastern Lawrence County, is located on U.S. Highway 63 between Hoxie (Lawrence County) and Jonesboro (Craighead County). At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Osage from farther north hunted and fished in the area that would become northeastern Arkansas, but they had no permanent settlements there. Even after Arkansas became a state, settlement in the Cache River basin remained sparse. Eventually, after the Civil War, investors began to consider harvesting the timber in this part of Arkansas. The Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railroad built a line in the 1880s that ran through Hoxie and Jonesboro on the way to Memphis, Tennessee. George Washington Sedgwick, one of the railroad’s organizers, built a sawmill near the …

Sensation (Scott County)

Sensation is a historical community in western Scott County located near Lake Hinkle. Sensation was officially established circa 1916, although people had been living in the area prior to that time. The origin of its name is unknown. Agriculture and timber have contributed to the economy and way of life in the area. Prior to European exploration, the area surrounding Sensation was a wilderness. Several species of wildlife that no longer inhabit the area, such as elk and buffalo, were present throughout the region. Numerous archaeological sites and burial mounds are located along the banks of prominent water ways such as the Fourche La Fave and Poteau rivers. Archaeological findings have provided evidence of early inhabitants dating to the Archaic, …

Sevier County

Sevier County is located in southwestern Arkansas and borders the state of Oklahoma. The county is located at the northern limits of the Gulf Coastal Plain. Sevier County has four rivers, each of which is impounded by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lake. The Little River forms the southern boundary, while the Saline River borders the east side of the county. The Cossatot River and Rolling Fork River both flow from north to south. Pre-European Exploration Dinosaur bones discovered in the county in 1972 led to the identification and description of Arkansaurus fridayi. In 2017, the Arkansaurus fridayi was named as the official state dinosaur. Artifacts indicate that human activity in Sevier County dates back as much as 10,000 …

Shannon Hills (Saline County)

Shannon Hills is a city in northern Saline County, adjacent to the southern portions of Little Rock (Pulaski County). Incorporated in 1977, Shannon Hills is largely a bedroom community, with few businesses and no industry. The population of northern Saline County centered around communities such as Benton (Saline County) for much of the county’s history. The area that would become Shannon Hills remained unclaimed and undeveloped until after World War II. Around 1960, plans were announced to create a housing development at that location, and a dedication ceremony was held to mark the ground-breaking. Of the houses standing in Shannon Hills, almost none were built before 1960; roughly ten percent were built in the 1960s, thirty percent in the 1970s, few …

Sharp County

Sharp County, in northern Arkansas, was established in 1868. Though long known as a location for good hunting and timber, it has remained rather sparsely populated, though the resort town of Cherokee Village is one of the state’s leading retirement communities, and Hardy is a well-known tourist destination. Pre-European Exploration Local tradition holds that Wahpeton Hill in what is now Hardy was home at one time to Osage and Sioux. However, the Osage, though they likely hunted in the area, maintained no settlements, and the real Wahpeton Sioux lived farther north in South Dakota and Canada. Archaeological finds in the area do include a large variety of arrowheads, spear points, pottery, and handicrafts linked which give convincing proof of the …

Shaw (Saline County)

Located six miles south of present-day Benton (Saline County) on Highway 35, the unincorporated community of Shaw is one of Saline County’s oldest settlements. Shaw’s northern boundary follows Highway 35 to Peacock Hill. Its eastern boundary takes in the original post office, named for French explorer Henri de Tonti. Its western boundary is a heavily wooded area adjoining the town of Haskell (Saline County). To the south, Shaw’s borders include some of northern Grant County. The founder of the community, Hiram M. Shaw, was born on December 24, 1805, in what was then Walker County, Georgia. In 1857, he and his wife, Elizabeth Arnold Shaw, moved their family to Arkansas, becoming some of the first white settlers in what is …

Sheridan (Grant County)

Sheridan, the county seat of rural Grant County, which lies approximately thirty-four miles south of Little Rock (Pulaski County), was named after Union general Philip Sheridan when the town was incorporated twenty-two years after the Civil War. Today, Sheridan is a growing community with expanding industries and one of the state’s largest school districts. Pre-European Exploration through European Exploration and Settlement The first inhabitants of Grant County are believed to have lived as early as circa 12,000 BC. Three Indian mounds on the John Ratliffe farm about twelve miles west of Sheridan were excavated by the late Francis Posey, an early settler, in the 1800s. He removed parts of a skeleton, ashes, projectile points, shells, and a piece of a …

Sherrill (Jefferson County)

Sherrill is a town in Jefferson County on State Highway 15 between Altheimer (Jefferson County) and England (Lonoke County). Like many Arkansas towns, Sherrill was created by the railroad industry late in the nineteenth century, although it did not incorporate as a town until 1935. Augustus S. Smith, a native of South Carolina, purchased many acres of land in Jefferson County in 1859; the land featured the rich soil of the Arkansas River Valley. That year, he transported about 200 slaves to his new plantation in Arkansas, where they worked in the cotton fields until their emancipation at the end of the Civil War. Many of these freed slaves remained on the same farmland, working as tenant farmers in the …

Sherwood (Pulaski County)

Sherwood is a city in Pulaski County central Arkansas just north of North Little Rock (Pulaski County). In 1990, Sherwood was named the fastest-growing town in Arkansas, in terms of both population and area, as it has annexed land many times over the years. Sherwood began in the late 1800s as a small farming community known as Sylvan Hills. Few families lived there until the early 1900s. For many years, they had no running water, electricity, or utilities. Another part of modern Sherwood is the lowland area known as Brushy Island, where both white and African American farmers lived; this area was the site of a series of events called the “Brushy Island Riots” in the late 1910s. Around 1923, …

Shiloh (Scott County)

Shiloh is an unincorporated community located in southwestern Scott County. Established about one mile west of the Nella community, Shiloh was likely named after the biblical place mentioned in Genesis. Agriculture and the timber industry have traditionally contributed to the culture and economy in Shiloh. Prior to European exploration, the area surrounding Shiloh was a wilderness. Several species of wildlife that no longer inhabit the area, such as elk, wolves, and buffalo, were present throughout the region. Numerous archaeological sites and burial mounds can be found along the banks of prominent waterways such as the Fourche La Fave River. Archaeological findings have provided evidence of early inhabitants dating to the Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods. Further archaeological evidence has indicated …

Shirley (Van Buren County)

The town of Shirley rests on the Middle Fork of the Little Red River in northeastern Van Buren County. Established by the railroad, the town has become an agricultural center for the region with a focus also on recreation and tourism. The rocky and wooded hills of the Ozarks have been sparsely populated for most of recorded history. When the land that would become Arkansas was acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase, Osage hunters and fishers were the primary visitors to the land that would become Shirley. Changing treaties first recognized the Osage as owners of the land, later gave it to the Cherokee, and ultimately removed both the Osage and the Cherokee west to what is now …

Shumaker (Ouachita County)

Shumaker was a naval ammunition depot established in 1944 in Ouachita and Calhoun counties. After the closure of the depot in 1957, the land was declared government surplus and auctioned. The residential area constructed for the staff of the depot and their families became part of East Camden (Ouachita County). The remainder of the depot is used for various business ventures, while much of the accompanying land has been abandoned to the elements. Early landowners in the area included Daniel Williams and Robert Delph. Williams received a land patent in the area in 1860, and Delph received one the following year. The area remained heavily forested, with some farming. The location of the land near the Ouachita River and other …

Sidney (Sharp County)

Sidney is a small farming community located in southwest Sharp County. While the area was settled in the 1840s, the town was not incorporated until May 11, 1935, and was believed to have been named in honor of Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston. The town has never been home to more than 300 citizens. Prior to 1844, John Martin settled at the confluence of the branches of what is now Sidney Creek near the present town. Within a few years, the families of George Hodges and Addison Harvey Nunn settled in the area, the former on land that would eventually become the town. Nunn, who owned the largest number of slaves in the area, was elected county and probate judge. …

Siloam Springs (Benton County)

Siloam Springs is on the western edge of Benton County in what could be called the “bootheel” of the county. “Siloam” refers to the healing waters of the Pool of Siloam in the New Testament (John 9:6), and health seekers were once important to the local economy. The town is known for the beauty of the parks lining Sager Creek and for the diversity of its industries, which include poultry processing, canning, and a variety of light manufacturing. Siloam Springs is also the home of John Brown University, a private non-denominational Christian school offering fifty-one bachelor’s degree programs and six master’s degree programs. Early Statehood By November 1839, Simon Sager and family were living in what is now Siloam Springs, …

Slovak (Prairie County)

Slovak (originally called Slovactown or Slovaktown), an agricultural community founded in 1894, still endures and is home to the Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who are also known as the Apostles of the Slavs. Slovak is the result of the promotional efforts aimed at encouraging immigrant settlement in Arkansas in the 1890s. Various Slovak fraternal and nationalistic organizations, such as the National Slovak Society, translated advertisements promoting the favorable agricultural areas of Arkansas into the Slovak language at presses in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois. Following such advertisements, the Slovak Colonization Company was organized in 1894 in Pittsburgh by Peter V. Rovnianek. The company bought 3,000 acres of Arkansas land for settlement in the southern portion of Prairie County. This …

Smackover (Union County)

Smackover’s existence is a result of one of the largest and most dramatic oil discoveries in the nation. Its sixty-eight-square-mile oil field led the nation’s oil output in 1925, with production reaching seventy million barrels. Prior to the discovery of oil, the area’s economy initially relied upon cotton and, by 1890, a timber industry that thrived in the vast virgin forests of southern Arkansas. European Exploration and Settlement An uncharted wilderness greeted French hunters and trappers along the Ouachita River. The typography resembled a vast sunken swamp interspersed with rolling hills and steep knolls. The name Bayou de Chemin Couvert (Smackover Creek) first appeared in an April 5, 1789, letter written by the commandant of Fort Miro (Monroe, Louisiana) to …

Smithton (Clark County)

Smithton is an unincorporated community located about two miles northeast of Gurdon (Clark County). Founded as a lumber town, the community eventually grew to include one of the largest timber mills in the state and became the hub for a short line railroad system. One of the earliest landowners in the area was John Skinner, who obtained a federal land patent for 640 acres in 1837. Skinner was a land speculator and owned thousands of acres in what are today Clark, Dallas, and Grant counties. Skinner lived in Jefferson County at the time he received the land patent for the acreage in what would become Smithton. James A. Smith arrived in the Gurdon area in 1873 as a worker on …

Smithville (Lawrence County)

Smithville was the first county seat of present-day Lawrence County. Though it is largely abandoned today, Smithville was once a thriving trading center near the Strawberry River in the foothills of the extreme eastern Ozarks region. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood The Nathaniel McCarroll family probably settled first in the area, around 1808. Other settlers joined them throughout the next several decades, most arriving from places such as Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Missouri. By 1832, the area (then known as the Strawberry settlement due to the proximity of the Strawberry River) was populated enough to have the first post office erected within the modern boundaries of Lawrence County. In 1837, the redrawing of county lines forced Lawrence County to move its …

Smyrna (Clark County)

Smyrna is a community located in western Clark County. It is about five miles north of Okolona (Clark County) and two miles east of the Clear Spring (Clark County) community. The land where Smyrna is located was obtained by land speculators Samuel Doresy and Henry Dawson on August 10, 1837, when they received a federal land patent at the office in Washington (Hempstead County). This plot was part of more than 4,000 acres that the pair obtained in Clark County that month. The area remained sparsely settled for decades. Located in the former Terre Noire Township, the community is centered on the Smyrna United Methodist Church and nearby cemetery. The land for the church and cemetery was donated by James …

Snapp (Woodruff County)

Located about twelve miles northeast of the county seat of Augusta (Woodruff County), Snapp was an agricultural, business, and postal center for that area of the county from the late 1800s until well into the twentieth century. The community took its name from Lafayette D. Snapp, who moved there in 1866 from Missouri. Born on April 22, 1842, to a pioneer family of German descent in Taney County, Missouri, Snapp—along with two of his brothers—enlisted in Company E, Third Missouri Cavalry (CS), during the Civil War. Following the war, Snapp moved to Woodruff County, where on March 4, 1869, he married Mary Hester Luckenbill. Snapp established a general mercantile store and grist mill, as well as a cotton gin with …

Snowball (Searcy County)

The unincorporated community of Snowball in Searcy County is typical of the many Arkansas towns established in the Ozark Mountains in the late nineteenth century. Located about thirteen miles west of the county seat of Marshall on state Highway 74, this once thriving commercial community today consists of a Masonic Hall, a few residences, and no commercial businesses. The area along the banks of Calf Creek, near modern-day Snowball, was settled by Native Americans dating back to the Late Archaic Period. A Native American site, Cooper’s Bluff, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. One of the earliest white settlers is believed to have been John Campbell, who settled with his family along the creek in about 1837. …

Social Hill (Hot Spring County)

Social Hill of Hot Spring County is located seven miles southwest of the junction of the Ouachita River and the Old Military Road at Highway 84, and about ten miles from Malvern (Hot Spring County). Adam Blakely was the first to homestead land at Social Hill, in the 1820s. He built the dogtrot-style Blakely House on the peak of the hill in 1837. Farming was the main economic activity in the community. The area’s Methodist church was first organized as Pisgah Methodist Church in 1874, but the name was later changed to Lone Hill Methodist. It then became known as Social Hill Methodist Church. The school building located at Haw Branch, a shallow stream, was occupied by students during the week, …

South Lead Hill (Boone County)

South Lead Hill is a residential town located on State Highway 7 in northern Boone County. It is one of three communities that formed after the construction of Bull Shoals Dam flooded the location of the earlier town of Lead Hill (Boone County). Osage hunted and fished in northern Arkansas before the Louisiana Purchase added the land to the United States in 1803. A series of treaties moved the Osage west to Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma), but the northern part of Arkansas Territory remained sparsely settled for many years. Eli Dodson and William Cantrell both acquired land patents east of the location that would become South Lead Hill in 1854. In 1884, Robert Hollis purchased the land …