Monroe County, Arkansas | |
|---|---|
 Monroe County Courthouse in Clarendon | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofArkansas | |
| Coordinates:34°42′48″N91°13′20″W / 34.713333333333°N 91.222222222222°W /34.713333333333; -91.222222222222 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Arkansas |
| Founded | November 2, 1829 |
| Named after | James Monroe[1] |
| Seat | Clarendon |
| Largest city | Brinkley |
| Area | |
• Total | 621 sq mi (1,610 km2) |
| • Land | 607 sq mi (1,570 km2) |
| • Water | 14 sq mi (36 km2) 2.3% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 6,799 |
• Estimate (2024) | 6,415 |
| • Density | 11.2/sq mi (4.32/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| Congressional district | 1st |
Monroe County is located in theArkansas Delta in theU.S. state ofArkansas. Thecounty is named forJames Monroe, the fifthPresident of the United States. Created as Arkansas's 20th county on November 2, 1829, Monroe County is home to two incorporatedtowns and three incorporated cities, includingClarendon, thecounty seat, andBrinkley, the most populous city. The county is also the site of numerousunincorporated communities andghost towns.
Occupying only 621 square miles (161,000 ha), Monroe County is the 22nd smallest county in Arkansas. As of the2020 Census, the county's population was 6,799.[2] Based on population, the county is the fifth-smallest county of the 75 in Arkansas.[3] Located in the Arkansas Delta, the county is largely flat with fertile soils. Historically covered in forest, bayous, swamps, and grasslands, the area was cleared for agriculture by early European-American settlers and enslaved African Americans to do the work and to cultivate cotton. It is drained by theCache River,Bayou DeView, and theWhite River. Three large protected areas preserve old growthbald cypress forest,sloughs and wildlife habitat in the county:Cache River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR),Dagmar Wildlife Management Area andWhite River NWR and provide places for hunting and fishing.
Interstate 40 is the onlyInterstate highway in Monroe County, crossing the county from east to west through Brinkley, the largest city. The county also has threeUnited States highways (U.S. Route 49 [US 49],US 70, andUS 79) and twelveArkansas state highways run in the county. AUnion Pacific Railroad line crosses the county from southwest to northeast.[4]
Shortly after the United States had completed theLouisiana Purchase, officials began to survey the territory at a site near the intersection of Monroe,Phillips, andLee counties. From forestedwetlands in what would become southern Monroe County, approximately 900,000 square miles (2,300,000 km2) of land would be explored after PresidentJames Madison commissioned a survey of the purchase area. The point was commemorated in 1961 by theArkansas General Assembly as part ofLouisiana Purchase State Park.
Settlement in Monroe County began when Dedrick Pike settled in 1816 where theCache River enters theWhite River.[5] The settlement was named Mouth of the Cache, and a post office by that name was opened years later. The community renamed itselfClarendon in 1824 in honor of theEarl of Clarendon. Monroe County was established under theArkansas territorial legislature in 1829, and thecounty seat was established atLawrenceville, where a jail and courthouse were erected. A ferry across the White River was founded in 1836.
In 1857 the county seat was moved toClarendon, Arkansas. The new brick courthouse was nearly finished by the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War in 1861. The county sent five units intoConfederate service. AfterUnion troops captured Clarendon in 1863, they destroyed the small city. The Union had completely dismantled the brick courthouse and shipped the bricks toDe Valls Bluff.[6]
After the war, during Reconstruction, there was a high level of violence by insurgent whites seeking to suppress the rights of freedmen and to keep them from voting. After Republican CongressmanJames M. Hinds was murdered by George Clark, a Democrat and member of theKu Klux Klan in Monroe County in October 1868, GovernorPowell Clayton establishedmartial law in ten counties, including Monroe County, as the attacks and murders were out of control. Four military districts were operated for four years in an effort to suppressguerrilla insurgency by white paramilitary groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and others. They continued to challenge enfranchisement of blacks and the increasing power of Republicans in the county. TheMonroe County Sun newspaper was established in 1876.[7]
Violence continued after Reconstruction, when Democrats had regained control of the state legislature. Whites struggled to re-establish white supremacy, by violence and intimidation of black Republican voters. At the turn of the century, the state legislature passed measures that effectivelydisenfranchised most blacks for decades. TheEqual Justice Initiative reported in 2015 that the county had 12lynchings of African Americans from 1877 to 1950,[8] most in the decades near the turn of the 20th century. This was the fourth-highest of any county in the state.[8] To escape the violence, thousands of African Americans left the state in theGreat Migration to northern and western cities, especially after 1940.
Mechanization of farming and industrial-scale agriculture have decreased the need for workers. The rural county has continued to lose population because of the lack of work opportunities. There has been a decrease in population every decade since 1940.
The county is located in the Arkansas Delta, one of the six primary geographic regions of Arkansas. The Arkansas Delta is a subregion of theMississippi Alluvial Plain, which is a flat area consisting of rich, fertile sediment deposits from theMississippi River betweenLouisiana andIllinois. Large portions of Monroe County are also within theGrand Prairie, a subdivision of the Arkansas Delta known today for rice farming and aquaculture. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 621 square miles (1,610 km2), of which 607 square miles (1,570 km2) is land and 14 square miles (36 km2) (2.3%) is water.[9]
Prior to settlement, Monroe County was densely forested, with bayous, sloughs, and swamps crossing the land. Seeking to take advantage of the area's fertile soils, settlers cleared the land to better suitrow crops.[10] Although some swampland has been preserved in the conservation areas like the Cache River NWR and White River NWR, and some former farmland has undergone reforestation, the majority (52 percent) of the county remains in cultivation.[Note 1] Another large land use in Monroe County is the Cache River NWR and White River NWR, owned by theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service.
The county is located approximately 73 miles (117 km) east ofLittle Rock and 88 miles (142 km) west-southwest ofMemphis,Tennessee.[Note 2] Monroe County is surrounded by six other Delta counties:Woodruff County to the north,St. Francis County to the northeast,Lee County andPhillips County to the east,Arkansas County to the southwest, andPrairie County to the west.
Water is an extremely important part of Monroe County's geography, history, economy, and culture. The many rivers, streams, ditches, sloughs and bayous crossing the county have featured prominently since prehistoric times. Native American tribes settled near them and peoples such as theQuapaw constructed burial mounds at Indian Bay in extreme southern Monroe County (today preserved asBaytown Site).[10]
Europeans who settled in the county also used the White River to navigate through the area and trade. Control of the White River lead to military action in the county during theCivil War, including a gunboat battle at Clarendon in 1864. TheFlood of 1927 damaged much of the county's settlements along the White, and inundated Clarendon when the levees protecting the city failed on April 20. Conservation efforts by leaders in the county resulted in the creation of federal and state protected areas around the Cache and White rivers, to protect wetlands that could absorb flooding, beginning in 1935. These have been expanded to the current day, as engineers understand more about the positive role of wetlands in floodplain ecology.
The White River, one of Arkansas's most important rivers, is the county's major hydrologic features. The White forms the southwestern boundary of the county withArkansas County. The Cache River runs on the west side of Monroe County, partially forming its border withPrairie County. Both the Cache River and Roc Roe Bayou empty into the White near Clarendon.Bayou De View runs through the north part of the county and meets the Cache north ofDobbs Landing.[4]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1830 | 461 | — | |
| 1840 | 936 | 103.0% | |
| 1850 | 2,049 | 118.9% | |
| 1860 | 5,657 | 176.1% | |
| 1870 | 8,336 | 47.4% | |
| 1880 | 9,574 | 14.9% | |
| 1890 | 15,336 | 60.2% | |
| 1900 | 16,816 | 9.7% | |
| 1910 | 19,907 | 18.4% | |
| 1920 | 21,601 | 8.5% | |
| 1930 | 20,651 | −4.4% | |
| 1940 | 21,133 | 2.3% | |
| 1950 | 19,540 | −7.5% | |
| 1960 | 17,327 | −11.3% | |
| 1970 | 15,657 | −9.6% | |
| 1980 | 14,052 | −10.3% | |
| 1990 | 11,333 | −19.3% | |
| 2000 | 10,254 | −9.5% | |
| 2010 | 8,149 | −20.5% | |
| 2020 | 6,799 | −16.6% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 6,415 | [13] | −5.6% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[14] 1790–1960[15] 1900–1990[16] 1990–2000[17] 2010[18] | |||
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 6,799. The median age was 46.9 years. 21.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 23.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.3 males age 18 and over.[19][20]
The racial makeup of the county was 52.5%White, 40.6%Black or African American, 0.5%American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Asian, 0.1%Native Hawaiian andPacific Islander, 2.1% from some other race, and 3.8% fromtwo or more races.Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 2.7% of the population.[20]
<0.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.[21]
There were 3,040 households in the county, of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 36.2% were married-couple households, 22.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 35.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 36.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[19]
There were 3,828 housing units, of which 20.6% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 61.9% were owner-occupied and 38.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 12.5%.[19]
As of the2000 United States census,[22] there were 10,254 people, 4,105 households, and 2,733 families residing in the county. Thepopulation density was 17 people per square mile (6.6 people/km2). There were 5,067 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile (3.1/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 59.37%White, 38.79%Black orAfrican American, 0.26%Native American, 0.13%Asian, 0.04%Pacific Islander, 0.26% fromother races, and 1.14% from two or more races. 1.29% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race.
There were 4,105 households, out of which 29.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.10% weremarried couples living together, 16.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.40% were non-families. 30.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.90% under the age of 18, 7.60% from 18 to 24, 23.70% from 25 to 44, 23.40% from 45 to 64, and 17.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 88.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.30 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $22,632, and the median income for a family was $28,915. Males had a median income of $25,299 versus $17,117 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $13,096. About 21.00% of families and 27.50% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 37.40% of those under age 18 and 22.40% of those age 65 or over.
The county government is a constitutional body granted specific powers by theConstitution of Arkansas and theArkansas Code. The quorum court is the legislative branch of the county government and controls all spending and revenue collection. Representatives are calledjustices of the peace and are elected from county districts every even-numbered year. The number of districts in a county vary from nine to fifteen, and district boundaries are drawn by the county election commission. The Monroe County Quorum Court has nine members. Presiding over quorum court meetings is thecounty judge, who serves as thechief operating officer of the county. The county judge is elected at-large and does not vote in quorum court business, although capable of vetoing quorum court decisions.[23][24]
| Position | Officeholder | Party |
|---|---|---|
| County Judge | P.K. Norman | Democratic |
| County Clerk | Tina Wofford | Democratic |
| Circuit Clerk | Alice Smith | Democratic |
| Sheriff | Michael Neal | Democratic |
| Treasurer/Collector | Steven Mitchell | Democratic |
| Assessor | Stacey Wilkerson | Democratic |
| Coroner | Bob Neal | Democratic |
The composition of the Quorum Court after the 2024 elections is 5 Republicans and 4 Democrats. Justices of the Peace (members) of the Quorum Court following the elections are:[25][28]
Additionally, the townships of Monroe County are entitled to elect their own respective constables, as set forth by theConstitution of Arkansas. Constables are largely of historical significance as they were used to keep the peace in rural areas when travel was more difficult.[29]
The township constables as of the 2024 elections are:[30]
A portion of Monroe County is represented in theArkansas State Senate by the RepublicanRonald R. Caldwell, areal estate businessman fromWynne inCross County. Thestate representative from Monroe County is aDemocrat,Marshall Wright, a lawyer fromForrest City inSt. Francis County.
Prior to 2000, Monroe was considered an "ancestral" Democratic county, with exceptions for the1972 and1984 landslides ofRichard Nixon andRonald Reagan, respectively. Former GovernorBill Clinton won this county twice in his presidential runs:1992 and1996.John Kerry won the county in2004, the most recent Democrat to do so.
Over the past few election cycles Monroe has trended a bit more to the Republican Party, albeit with less fervor than its neighboring counties.Barack Obama lost the county by only two votes in his2012 run, and former Arkansas First LadyHillary Clinton lost it by more than six points, 52%-45%, in her2016 race.
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1896 | 436 | 27.39% | 1,019 | 64.01% | 137 | 8.61% |
| 1900 | 403 | 36.27% | 708 | 63.73% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1904 | 555 | 41.86% | 757 | 57.09% | 14 | 1.06% |
| 1908 | 1,022 | 51.56% | 912 | 46.01% | 48 | 2.42% |
| 1912 | 400 | 32.95% | 537 | 44.23% | 277 | 22.82% |
| 1916 | 508 | 40.67% | 741 | 59.33% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1920 | 912 | 51.35% | 834 | 46.96% | 30 | 1.69% |
| 1924 | 330 | 26.00% | 838 | 66.04% | 101 | 7.96% |
| 1928 | 411 | 32.54% | 851 | 67.38% | 1 | 0.08% |
| 1932 | 170 | 8.79% | 1,753 | 90.59% | 12 | 0.62% |
| 1936 | 82 | 6.91% | 1,102 | 92.84% | 3 | 0.25% |
| 1940 | 128 | 7.88% | 1,494 | 92.00% | 2 | 0.12% |
| 1944 | 291 | 18.12% | 1,311 | 81.63% | 4 | 0.25% |
| 1948 | 299 | 12.72% | 1,431 | 60.89% | 620 | 26.38% |
| 1952 | 947 | 34.05% | 1,834 | 65.95% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 1,099 | 41.72% | 1,460 | 55.43% | 75 | 2.85% |
| 1960 | 833 | 27.15% | 1,856 | 60.50% | 379 | 12.35% |
| 1964 | 1,968 | 46.45% | 2,258 | 53.29% | 11 | 0.26% |
| 1968 | 804 | 16.10% | 1,783 | 35.71% | 2,406 | 48.19% |
| 1972 | 2,897 | 63.45% | 1,578 | 34.56% | 91 | 1.99% |
| 1976 | 1,285 | 26.51% | 3,556 | 73.35% | 7 | 0.14% |
| 1980 | 2,027 | 41.98% | 2,686 | 55.62% | 116 | 2.40% |
| 1984 | 2,508 | 50.45% | 2,413 | 48.54% | 50 | 1.01% |
| 1988 | 1,862 | 46.88% | 2,052 | 51.66% | 58 | 1.46% |
| 1992 | 1,324 | 30.99% | 2,578 | 60.35% | 370 | 8.66% |
| 1996 | 973 | 28.14% | 2,247 | 64.98% | 238 | 6.88% |
| 2000 | 1,329 | 40.36% | 1,910 | 58.00% | 54 | 1.64% |
| 2004 | 1,586 | 43.25% | 2,049 | 55.88% | 32 | 0.87% |
| 2008 | 1,754 | 50.86% | 1,615 | 46.83% | 80 | 2.32% |
| 2012 | 1,585 | 49.07% | 1,583 | 49.01% | 62 | 1.92% |
| 2016 | 1,489 | 51.63% | 1,312 | 45.49% | 83 | 2.88% |
| 2020 | 1,545 | 54.87% | 1,147 | 40.73% | 124 | 4.40% |
| 2024 | 1,385 | 56.93% | 1,002 | 41.18% | 46 | 1.89% |
Public education in Monroe County is primarily provided by two districts:
Townships in Arkansas are the divisions of a county. Each township includes unincorporated areas; some may have incorporated cities or towns within part of their boundaries. Arkansas townships have limited purposes in modern times. However, theUnited States census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions"). Townships are also of value for historical purposes in terms of genealogical research. Each town or city is within one or more townships in an Arkansas county based on census maps and publications. The townships of Monroe County are listed below; listed in parentheses are the cities, towns, and/orcensus-designated places that are fully or partially inside the township.[32][33]
Monroe County is home to three public own/public usegeneral aviation (GA) airports. Each airport is used largely for agricultural spraying operations. TheClarendon Municipal Airport located southwest of Clarendon and northwest of Roe alongHighway 33. For the twelve-month period ending August 31, 2015, the facility saw 26,000 general aviation operations.[34]Frank Federer Memorial Airport in southeast Brinkley had 22,000 GA operations in the twelve-month period ending August 31, 2015.[35]Holly Grove Municipal Airport located east of Holly Grove onHighway 146 is also a small rural airport. For the twelve-month period ending August 31, 2015, the facility saw 22,000 general aviation operations.[36]
Intercity bus service to the county is provided byJefferson Lines, which has a stop in Brinkley.[37]
TheArkansas Department of Health is responsible for the regulation and oversight of public water systems throughout the state. Monroe County contains six community water systems: Brinkley Waterworks, Clarendon Waterworks, Holly Grove Waterworks, Roe Waterworks, United Water Association and East Monroe County Water Users. Brinkley Waterworks has the largest retail population (4,281), followed by Clarendon (1,640), and Holly Grove (1,010).[38] All community water systems in Monroe County use groundwater as their source of raw water, except East Monroe County Water Users, who purchases all water from Brinkley.[39]
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Places adjacent to Monroe County, Arkansas | ||||||||||||||||
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Municipalities and communities ofMonroe County, Arkansas,United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Towns | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Other unincorporated communities | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
34°42′48″N91°13′20″W / 34.71333°N 91.22222°W /34.71333; -91.22222
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