June 7, 1870

Russellville (Pope County) was incorporated. The town grew slowly until construction of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, which had been on hold since the Civil War, was completed. The town grew rapidly after the line came through Russellville in 1873. Russellville is located on Lake Dardanelle, approximately halfway between Little Rock (Pulaski County) and Fort Smith (Sebastian County), and is the seat of Pope County. The largest town in the county, it is home to Arkansas’s only nuclear power plant, Arkansas Nuclear One. As a major business center of the area, it is home to ten divisions of Fortune 500 companies and Arkansas Tech University.