January 29, 2007

The Polk County railroad town of Vandervoort was named Janssen in honor of the wife of one of the men who helped finance the construction of the tracks. In 1907, due to mail delivery confusion with another Arkansas town with the same name, the name was changed, this time to honor the same man’s mother. The town’s growth peaked in the early 1900s with a population of over 500. When Highway 71 bypassed the town in 1941, the town started a slow decline. The 2000 Census indicated a population of just 120.