October 3, 2011

Tennessee native Edward Cross embarked upon a distinguished career after moving to Arkansas in 1826. He served as a judge of the Superior Court of Arkansas (1832–1836), surveyor general of public lands (1836–1838), member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1839–1845), associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court (1845–1846), and state attorney general (1874). He was president of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad (1855–1862), the first railroad to connect Arkansas with Missouri and the eastern United States.