December 28, 1854

The city of Des Arc in Prairie County was incorporated. The earliest settler of record in the area was a Frenchman who said he had lived there since 1789. The town had been platted in the early 1800s and had thrived as a river transportation center but was almost destroyed by Union troops during the Civil War. It is now home of the Lower White River Museum State Park, established in 1970 as the Des Arc Archeological Center Bethell Pioneer Museum , which depicts life along the White River and changes over the years.