Entries - Entry Category: Counties, Cities, and Towns - Starting with I

Ida of Cleburne County is on Highway 25 (Heber Springs Road) about three miles south-southeast of Drasco (Cleburne County) and about four miles north-northeast of Tumbling Shoals (Cleburne County). Its proximity to Heber Springs (Cleburne County) and Greers Ferry Lake results in a great deal of tourism-related traffic for the unincorporated community. The Osage once lived in the area, with part of their territory now under Greers Ferry Lake. The Old Cherokee Boundary Line goes by Ida, running diagonally from Wolf Bayou (Cleburne County) across the lake. The Treaty of the Cherokee Agency of 1817 created the definition for the line. General William Rector, along with commissioners appointed by the Cherokee, conducted the original survey. Because of concerns of white …

Imboden, a small town located in the northwest corner of Lawrence County, was founded in the early 1880s on a prominent rise overlooking the Spring River. Though a number of settlers lived in the area by the 1820s, the town, which became a local trade center, did not exist until the construction of the railroad in 1883. By the 1820s, the Military Road crossed the Spring River near the present town, attracting new settlers. There is evidence that a few houses and a store existed prior to the coming of the railroad. One of those early settlers was Benjamin Imboden, who moved his family to the area in 1828. Imboden acquired considerable property, eventually owning the largest amount of land …

Independence County, one of the “mother counties” of the state of Arkansas, originally contained all or part of fifteen modern counties of the state. The county’s history is tied closely to its strategic location—it sits astride the White River where it flows from the Ozark upland into the Mississippi Alluvial Plain; the river bisects the modern county from west to east, and the original Southwest Trail crossed it from northeast to southwest along the Ozark escarpment. Independence County was a dominant cultural force in Arkansas from its beginning through the nineteenth century. Pre-European Exploration The White River, which lies between the Arkansas and Missouri Rivers, is one of two major drainages of the Ozarks region. That crucial geographic trait made …

Indian Bay is an unincorporated community in southern Monroe County. Located on a lake of the same name, Indian Bay lies within the White River National Wildlife Refuge. The area of Indian Bay has long been inhabited, as is shown by nine Native American mounds nearby, the largest of which covers more than an acre. Artifacts found in the area are thought to be 1,300 to 1,700 years old, but the site is not open to the public. According to official records, the settlement that became Indian Bay was surveyed around 1825, at which time the community was called Warsaw. John Diana was the first landowner in Indian Bay. He was joined by Moses Price, Joseph Mitchell, A. Berdu, Major Dukes, and …

In the nineteenth century, Izard County served as a gateway to settlement across northern Arkansas and was the parent county of seven other counties. Later, Izard County’s virgin yellow pine forests provided lumber to other parts of the state. Today, the county houses a state prison and is a tourist and retirement destination. Izard County has not changed a great deal since the settlers first arrived. Then and now, oak and pine forests cover much of the southern Ozarks hills. The county’s highest elevations are in the Boswell and Sylamore area. These include Brandenburg Mountain (1,099 feet), Thompson Mountain (1,124 feet), and Pilot Knob (1,123 feet). The county has sixty-eight named streams, all of which flow eventually into the White …