September 24, 1890

The town of Rison (Cleveland County) was incorporated. When the railroad was routed through the county in 1882, Rison did not exist. Samuel Wesley Fordyce of Huntsville, Alabama, a former Union army officer, was authorized to determine the route of the railroad from Texarkana (Miller County) to Birds Point, Missouri. According to unsubstantiated legend, when the leading citizens of Toledo (Cleveland County) snubbed his plans to route the railroad through that community, he planned a route three miles north through land that later became the town of Rison.