November 1, 1833

Mississippi County was established in eastern Arkansas. The area, on the banks of the Mississippi River, was home to prehistoric cultures and has many Indian artifacts. The area is believed to have been visited in the 1500s and 1600s by early explorers Hernando de Soto, Father Jacques Marquette, and René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Long a fertile agricultural mecca with abundant crops of cotton, corn, soybeans, and rice, the area had rich timber lands that were largely cut over in the first two decades of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, in addition to continuing agricultural production, the county is the largest steel-producing area in the country.