Entry Category: Yell

Multistory concrete building with sign saying "Bank of Dardanelle" with the second letter L in Dardanelle hanging

Highway with a house on one side and land on the other with a population sign saying "Belleville"

Belleville (Yell County)

Located on State Highway 10 four miles northwest of Danville (Yell County), the second-class city of Belleville was once the second-largest city in Yell County. The city is near Spring Lake, a popular recreational site on the edge of the Ozark National Forest, and is on the highway that leads to Mount Magazine State Park. The settlement of Monrovia (Yell County), now abandoned, existed in the area before the Civil War and was used as a temporary prison by Federal troops during the war. The first settler of what is now Belleville was William Fergeson, who established a sawmill and store in 1872 and later became the first postmaster of what then was called Fergeson Mills. The next year, a …

gray building constructed of aluminum siding with multiple white bays

Belleville Fire Department

Single story red brick building with sign saying "United States Post Office"

Belleville Post Office

Belleville School

street with one story buildings on both sides

Belleville Street Scene

Birta Street Scene

Metal bridge crossing no water. Sign adjacent

Bowstring Bridge

Chickalah (Yell County)

Chickalah is an unincorporated community in the northeastern portion of Yell County located on Arkansas Highway 27, approximately nine miles west of Dardanelle (Yell County). The community is reportedly named after a man named Chikileh, a Cherokee leader who resided in the area in the late 1700s and early 1800s, making his home somewhere between Little and Big Chickalah creeks. In addition to the community and the creeks, Chickalah Mountain, a 925-foot peak, also bears this name. The peak is approximately twelve miles to the west of the Chickalah community near Spring Lake in the Ozark National Forest. Chickalah history is closely linked to the Harkey Valley (Yell County) and Sulphur Springs (Yell County) communities, both of which lie to the …

Corinth (Yell County)

Corinth is a town in Yell County, located between the cities of Danville (Yell County) and Belleville (Yell County). State Highway 10 is the approximate northern boundary of the town, although some businesses on the highway are just outside its limits. Petit Jean River forms the southern boundary of Corinth. As is the case for the rest of Yell County, the land that would become Corinth was sparsely populated, first by Native Americans and then by American settlers. The name “Corinth” was attached to the area during the nineteenth century. Corinth was an important city of ancient Greece and was also the location of an early Christian congregation (to which the apostle Paul wrote two epistles that are included in …

Danville (Yell County)

Danville, one of two county seats of Yell County (the other being Dardanelle), is situated near the center of the county where Highways 80, 10, and 27 converge. The city is located in the Arkansas Valley natural division on the south side of the Petit Jean River and north of the Fourche Mountains subdivision of the Ouachita Mountains. Danville has often been overshadowed by the more populous Dardanelle, which has grown larger due to its situation along the Arkansas River and proximity to Interstate 40. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood Cherokee settled in the Arkansas Valley, including the area that is now Yell County, in the late 1790s and early 1800s; however, they ceded these lands to the U.S. government …

Danville Street Scene

store-front buildings along curving street with cars

Danville Street Scene

storefront buildings along street with gas station on other side

Danville Street Scene

Dardanelle (Yell County)

Dardanelle, adjacent to the Arkansas River in northeast Yell County, was platted in 1847 and incorporated on January 17, 1855. The origin of the town’s name is open to conjecture. European Exploration and Settlement Several Native American tribes hunted in or inhabited the area, including the Osage, Caddo, and Cherokee. Thomas Nuttall’s 1819 journal described Cherokee people living in log cabins along the Arkansas River south of the Dardanelle Rock surrounded by cotton fields and peach and plum orchards. French exploration of the area was primarily limited to a few hunters who dared to infringe on Osage-claimed lands. There are many explanations for the town’s name. Some have speculated that the 300-foot-high rock face at the river’s edge reminded early …

Dardanelle Gin

Looking down town street with parked cars and multistory buildings on both sides

Dardanelle Street Scene

Single and multistory buildings with awnings on dirt street

Dardanelle Street Scene

Townspeople and horse drawn wagons on town street lined with storefronts

Dardanelle Street Scene

People standing on street next to row of buildings with ads painted on the sides

Dardanelle Street Scene

"Harmon's" store with display windows and brick storefront buildings on dirt street

Dardanelle Street Scene

Entering Ola

Entering Plainview

Harkey Valley (Yell County)

Harkey Valley, often referred to as “Harkey’s Valley,” is a community located in Yell County between County Roads 38 and 39. Located southwest of Dardanelle (Yell County), the community is bordered by Chickalah (Yell County) on Highway 27, which lies approximately ten miles to the east, and the Mount Magazine Division of the Ozark National Forest to the west. Portions of the community are located within the forest itself. The community’s history is closely associated with the neighboring community of Sulphur Springs (Yell County), which lies slightly to the north. Both areas are often referred to as simply “the valley.” County Road 38, which leads from Chickalah to Harkey’s Valley and Sulphur Springs, was renamed “Harkey’s Valley Road.” Therefore, many newcomers …

Havana (Yell County)

Havana is a second-class city located on Highway 10 between the Ozark National Forest to the north and the Ouachita National Forest to the south. Highway 309 winds north from Havana to Mount Magazine, and Blue Mountain Lake on the Petit Jean River is a few miles west of Havana. The small city is the birthplace and childhood home of three major league pitchers, the most renowned of whom is Johnny Sain. Before Havana was incorporated in 1900, several names were given to the small settlement that was developing on the north side of the Petit Jean River. Marvinville was the earliest name given to the settlement, which was a stopping-point on the Military Road which connected Dardanelle (Yell County) …

Single story white wooden building adjacent to park area with picnic tables and a wooden bridge across a creek

Ola (Yell County)

Ola is the third-largest city in Yell County. It was originally known as Petit Jean, but its name was changed to Ola on December 10, 1880. On March 20, 1900, it was incorporated as a second-class city. Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood The area that became Ola was part of the Ward Township, Section 3, Township 4 North, Range 21 West. The 1850 Census shows twenty-two families residing within the Ward Township and includes a store and scattered, outlying homesteads. Postal service was established in 1848. Early settlers came from North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee, attracted to the area by its cheap land and commercial possibilities. Civil War through the Gilded Age The first house was completed in 1860 …