Counties, Cities, and Towns

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Entry Category: Counties, Cities, and Towns

Lake View (Phillips County)

Lake View is one of two cities in Arkansas (and one of three incorporated communities in Arkansas) where African Americans make up more than ninety percent of the population. Established during the Great Depression as part of a rural resettlement program, Lake View (or Lakeview) is best known for its part in reshaping education funding in Arkansas through court cases in the 1990s. When Phillips County was established in 1820, its southern portion was dominated by swamplands and hardwood forests. Near Old Town Lake, an oxbow lake that had once been part of the Mississippi River, some small plantations were established, although they were less prosperous than the region’s larger cotton plantations. After the Civil War, freed slaves continued to work on …

Lake Village (Chicot County)

Lake Village is located in the extreme southeastern part of the state in Chicot County. While Lake Village is the smallest incorporated town, by square miles, in the county, it has served as the county seat since 1857. The hub of commercial activity for Chicot County, Lake Village prides itself on its rich agricultural background. European Exploration and Settlement While Lake Village was not incorporated as a town until 1898, the history of the area starts much earlier, beginning with the arrival of the Spanish in 1541. One local story claims that Hernando de Soto and his men came upon a friendly Native American tribe ruled by Chief Chicot, who had their village on the banks of the Mississippi River …

Lakeview (Baxter County)

Lakeview of Baxter County is one of several cities that came into being as a result of Bull Shoals dam, which was constructed on the White River in northern Arkansas beginning in 1947 and impounds Bull Shoals Lake. Situated on Highway 178 on the southern shore of the lake, Lakeview is adjacent to the Bull Shoals-White River State Park, which, directly and indirectly, provides many of the jobs held by citizens of Lakeview. The earliest settlers in the region were William J. Trimble and his family. Trimble acquired land patents from the land office in Batesville (Independence County) in 1856 and in 1860. Later relatives (whether sons or nephews is unclear) James I. Trimble, John N. Trimble, and William H. …

Lamar (Johnson County)

Lamar is a second-class city in the Arkansas River Valley and the Interstate 40 corridor. Located a few miles east of Clarksville (Johnson County), Lamar is notable for its schools and for being the home of two acting governors of Arkansas. The region that would become Lamar first entered recorded history during the Trail of Tears, when Lieutenant Joseph Whipple Harris led a party of 125 Cherokee across Arkansas to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Harris led the group on a trail that passed through Johnson County, camping on a ridge near the present site of Lamar on May 2, 1834. Later parties traveling to Indian Territory followed the same route. A segment of road believed to be the route used by …

Lamartine (Columbia County)

Lamartine was a small community founded in present-day northwest Columbia County sometime before 1840. Some sources credit it as being the county’s oldest community. During the Civil War, Thomas Pleasant Dockery, son of one of the earliest settlers, rose to the rank of Confederate Brigadier General. Long before white settlers, the area was home to large numbers of Caddo. Due to the Caddo movement and trade, the area was crossed by a number of trails. These trails and eventually roads, including a military road constructed in the 1830s by the federal government, made movement by white settlers into the area easier. These roads also connected the area to the Ouachita and Red rivers. By the 1840s, a white settlement began …

Lambert (Hot Spring County)

Lambert is an unincorporated community in Hot Spring County located about two miles west of Bismarck (Hot Spring County). Accessed by Arkansas Highway 84, the community is closely tied to nearby DeGray Lake. Early settlers include Riley Rowe, who obtained a federal land patent for 160 acres in 1875. Many members of the Rowe family lived in the area at the time of the 1880 federal census, but little information on Riley is available. Carrie Lambert, wife of William Lambert, obtained 160 acres in 1883. Many Lamberts lived in the area, giving the community its name. Carrie and William were farmers and had no children. (She appears as Caraline in the census.) William served two terms in the Arkansas House …

Landers (Hot Spring County)

Located about seven miles southeast of Malvern (Hot Spring County) and four miles northwest of Lono (Hot Spring County), the unincorporated community of Landers stands on Arkansas Highway 9. The community is centered on the intersection of Landers Road and Highway 9. The community formerly included a crossing of the Malvern and Camden Railroad. Early land patents issued in the area included forty acres acquired by Zachariah Staggs and John Jester in 1854. Robert Gray obtained forty acres in the area later the same year and was living on the land with his wife and children by the time of the 1860 census. That year, he obtained an additional forty acres to the east, with another forty acquired the following …

Landmark (Pulaski County)

Landmark is an unincorporated community on State Highway 367 in southern Pulaski County. It includes the older communities of Parkers and Iron Springs. Union Township was formed in southwestern Pulaski County in 1859. At that time, the township was home to about 400 residents, including residents of East End, which was added to Saline County in 1873. Enoch Davis was the only landowner in the immediate vicinity of what is now Landmark when the township was created; he acquired his land patent in 1843. In 1860, Sampson Brewer also obtained land in the area. Other land patents claimed after the Civil War include those of Eli Cockman (1873), Joel Bunch (1873), William McAlister (1876), William Bunch (1882), Thomas Brewer (1883), …

Laneburg (Nevada County)

Laneburg is an unincorporated community in Nevada County about eight miles southeast of Prescott (Nevada County) and about fourteen miles east of Hope (Hempstead County). The community is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 371 and Arkansas Highway 372. Early settlers in the area included John Norris, who obtained a federal land patent for forty acres of land in the area in 1839. Gad Bradly, a free African-American man, moved onto 120 acres southwest of Laneburg in 1839 and received the patent to the land in 1844. Melson Washington also obtained forty acres in the community in 1849. Other early landowners included George Smith and Calvin McCleland, who jointly obtained 160 acres in 1851. Before the formation of Nevada …

Lavaca (Sebastian County)

Located near Arkansas Highways 22 and 96 in Sebastian County, Lavaca can trace its beginnings to the need for a stop for soldiers traveling along the Arkansas River. From its start as a landing in new and undiscovered territory, Lavaca has become a bedroom community of Fort Smith (Sebastian County), the second-largest city in Arkansas. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood In 1817, Fort Smith became the first U.S. military installation in the Southwest. Soldiers would travel from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Fort Smith when they could, but shallow water and jutting bedrock halted boat travel at points, forcing them to travel by land. In 1821, Major Benjamin Moore, a former Virginia resident, and William and Ben Moore Jr. settled …

Lawrence County

The “Mother of Counties,” Lawrence County once covered a majority of northern Arkansas, an enormous stretch of land ultimately forming thirty-one counties. Present-day Lawrence County straddles the Black River, a natural boundary separating the lowlands of the Mississippi Delta from the foothills of the Ozark Plateau. Long dominated by cotton production, this agricultural county now produces rice, soybeans, corn, and sorghum. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood The Osage hunted in what would become Lawrence County, although they had no settlements there. The eastern portion of the county may have been visited in 1541 during a side trip of the expedition of Hernando de Soto. Arkansas became United States territory with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Named for War of 1812 …