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Pre-European Exploration, Prehistory through 1540 European Exploration and Settlement, 1541 through 1802 Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860 Civil War through Reconstruction, 1861 through 1874

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Polk County

Polk County, located on the western edge of Arkansas, was the home of the comedy team of Lum and Abner, country singer T. Texas Tyler, and the controversial Commonwealth College. All of Polk County is in the Ouachita Mountains. Rich Mountain is the site of the historic Queen Wilhelmina State Park.

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"Polk County" map with borders roads cities national forest

Popular Entries

White woman and wooden bell tower

Commonwealth College

Defunct: Colleges and Universities

White family sitting on river bank with steel truss bridge behind them

Caddo River

Physical Geography, Water

Brick train station and tracks on gravel

Mena

Polk

Concrete dam with water rushing over it and lake

Ouachita River

Physical Geography

Old white man with long beard, hat and sword in Confederate uniform

Robert Glenn Shaver

Individuals

"Rope route" newspaper clipping

Peter Berryman

Civil War to Gilded Age, Criminal Activities

"Polk County" map with borders roads cities national forest

Little Africa

Polk

Steel truss bridge with concrete supports over creek

Hatfield

Polk

white man in cowboy hat and checkered suit

T. Texas Tyler

Country

White man wearing sunglasses walking with bag full of American one hundred dollar bills in front of white woman and airplane inside red background

Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport

Air

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Popular Media

Advertisement reading "Ever Heard of Mena"

Sundown Town Flyer

Portrait of white woman in dark clothing

Kate Richards O'Hare

Portrait white man long receding hair in suit with stock tie

James Polk

Group of white students sitting around a wooden table in a bare room

Commonwealth College

U.S. flag and state flag in front of brick building "Rich Mountain Community College"

UA Rich Mountain

Lookout tower with stone foundation and pyramid shaped roof with stairs

Bee Mountain Lookout

White building with sign "71 Restaurant"

71 Restaurant

Mountain viewed from forest road with opposite split-rail fences

Eagle Mountain

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Major support provided through a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism.

Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

Special thanks to the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

Additional support provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council.

Additional support provided by the Arkansas General Assembly.

Additional support provided by the Arkansas Community Foundation.

Additional support provided by the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation Inc.

This project is funded in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant award.

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