Pine Bluff is situated in the southeast section of theArkansas Delta and straddles theArkansas Timberlands region to its west.[5] Its topography is flat with wide expanses of farmland, similar to other places in the Delta Lowlands. Pine Bluff has numerous creeks, streams, and bayous, includingBayou Bartholomew, the longest bayou in the world and the second most ecologically diverse stream in the United States.[6] Large bodies of water include Lake Pine Bluff, Lake Langhofer (Slack Water Harbor), and theArkansas River.
The area along theArkansas River had been inhabited for thousands of years byindigenous peoples of various cultures. They used the river for transportation as did European settlers after them, and for fishing. By the time of encounter with Europeans, the historicalQuapaw were the chief people in the area, having migrated from theOhio River valley centuries before.[citation needed]
Records dating back to 1801 show that “fifty miles up the Arkansas River on the Bonne Reserve livedJoseph Bonne, Michael Bonne and other taxpayers named Bonne.” Joseph Bonne was interpreter for theUnited States government at the signing of the Quapaw Cession atSt. Louis,Missouri, August 21, 1818.[7] Joseph Bonne, also written as Bone, Bona, or Bon. Bonne had Quapaw, French, and Plains Apache ancestry.[8]
Due to a great flood in 1819, Bonne and his wife, Mary Imbeau, moved five miles upstream from the Bonne Reserve to the place later named Pine Bluff. This was the first bluff above the mouth of the river and was covered by towering pine trees, the eastern boundary of the coastal plain ofSouth Arkansas.[9]
Founding, Trail of Tears and the Antebellum Era (1832–1861)
Bonne built a log cabin with a lean-to which served as his home... as well as a tavern with lodging accommodations for travelers. The settlement was officially named “The Town of Pine Bluff” by the county court on October 16, 1832.[9]
With its proximity to the Arkansas River, the town served as aninland port forsteamboat travel and shipping. Steamboats provided the primary mode of transport, arriving from downriver ports such asNew Orleans. From 1832 to 1838, Pine Bluff residents would see Native American migrants on theTrail of Tears waterway who were being forcibly removed by theUnited States Army from theSoutheast to theIndian Territory west of theMississippi River.[10]
From 1832 to 1858, the town was a station on the Trail of Tears for theSeminole and theirslaves, who were forcibly removed fromFlorida Territory to the Indian Territory. They included the legendary Black Seminole leaderJohn Horse, who arrived in the city via the steamboatSwan in 1842.[11][12][13]
Civil War, Reconstruction and the Gilded Age (1861–1902)
Pine Bluff was prospering by the outbreak of theCivil War; most of its wealth was based on the commodity crop of cotton. This was cultivated on large plantations by hundreds of thousands ofenslaved Africans throughout the state, but especially in the Delta. The city had one of the largest slave populations in the state by 1860,[14] andJefferson County, Arkansas was second in cotton production in the state.[15]
WhenFederal forces occupiedLittle Rock, a group of Pine Bluff residents asked commanding Major GeneralFrederick Steele to send Federal forces to occupy their town to protect them from bands of Confederatebushwhackers. Federal troops underColonelPowell Clayton arrived September 17, 1863, and stayed until the war was over.[16]
Because of the Federal forces, Pine Bluff attracted manyrefugees and freedmen after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in early 1863. The Federal troops set up a contraband camp there to house the runaway slaves and refugees behind Confederate lines.[20] After the war, freed slaves worked with theAmerican Missionary Association to start schools for the education of blacks, who had been prohibited from learning to read and write by southern laws. Both adults and children eagerly started learning. By September 1872, ProfessorJoseph C. Corbin opened the Branch Normal School of the Arkansas Industrial University, ahistorically black college. Founded as Arkansas's first black public college, today it is theUniversity of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Pine Bluff and the region suffered lasting effects from defeat, the aftermath of war, and the trauma of slavery and exploitation. Recovery was slow at first. Construction ofrailroads improved access to markets, and with increased production of cotton as moreplantations were reactivated, the economy began to recover. The first railroad reached Pine Bluff in December 1873.[citation needed] This same year Pine Bluff's first utility was formed when Pine Bluff Gas Company began furnishingmanufactured gas fromcoke fuel for lighting purposes. The state's economy remained highly dependent on cotton and agriculture, which suffered a decline through the 19th century.
As personal fortunes increased from the 1870s onward, community leaders constructed largeVictorian-style homes west of Main Street. Meanwhile, the Reconstruction era of the 1870s brought a stark mix of progress and challenge for African Americans. Most blacks joined the Republican Party, and several were elected in Pine Bluff to county offices and the state legislature for the first time in history. Several black-owned businesses were also opened, including banks, bars, barbershops, and other establishments. But in postwar violence in 1866, an altercation with whites ensued at a refugee camp, and 24 black men, women and children were found hanging from trees in one of the worst masslynchings in U.S. history.[21]
The rate of lynchings of black males was high across the South during this period of social tensions and white resistance to Reconstruction. Armistad Johnson was lynched in 1889,[22] and John Kelly and Gulbert Harris in 1892 in front of theJefferson County Courthouse, after a mob of hundreds rapidly escalated to thousands of whites vehemently demanding execution, despite Kelly's pleas of innocence and lack of trial. The angry mob eventually forced over his custody from an Officer adamantly attempting to deliver the suspect to the jail house, then the crowd watched enthusiastically as he was hung and riddled with bullets.[23] That same year the state adopted apoll tax amendment that disenfranchised many African-American and poor white voters. The Election Law of 1891 had already made voting more difficult and also caused voter rolls to decrease. With the Democratic Party consolidating its power in what became a one-party state,[24] the atmosphere was grim toward the end of the 19th century for many African Americans. Democrats imposed legal segregation and otherJim Crow laws.
BishopHenry McNeal Turner's "Back to Africa" movement attracted numbers of local African-American residents who purchased tickets and/or sought information on emigration. Arkansas had 650 emigrants depart to the colony ofLiberia in West Africa, more than from any other state in the United States. The majority of these emigrants came from the black-majority Jefferson, St. Francis, Pulaski, Pope, and Conway counties.[25][26]
According to historian James Leslie, Pine Bluff entered its "Golden Era" in the 1880s.[27] Cotton production and river commerce helped the city draw industries, public institutions and residents to the area, making it by 1890 the state's third-largest city. The first telephone system was placed in service March 31, 1883.Wiley Jones, a freedman who achieved wealth by his own business, built the first mule-drawn, street-car line in October 1886.[28] The first light, power and water plant was completed in 1887; a more dependable light and water system was put in place in 1912. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, economic expansion was also fueled by the growinglumber industry in the region.
Early 20th century and the Great Depression (1902–1941)
Situated on the Arkansas River, Pine Bluff depended on river traffic and trade. Community leaders were concerned that the main channel would leave the city. TheUnited States Army Corps of Engineers built alevee opposite Pine Bluff to try to keep the river flowing by the city.[29]
During a later flood, the main channel of the river moved away from the city, leaving a small oxbow lake (later expanded into Lake Pine Bluff).[citation needed] River traffic diminished, even as the river was a barrier separating one part of the county from the other. After many years of regional haggling, because the bond issue involved raised taxes, the county built the Free Bridge, which opened in 1914. For the first time, it united the county on a permanent basis.[citation needed]
African Americans in Pine Bluff were damaged by the state'sdisfranchisement in 1891–1892 and exclusion from the political system. But they continued to work for their rights; they joined activists in Little Rock and Hot Springs in a sustained boycott of streetcars, protesting passage in 1903 of the Segregated Streetcar Act, part of a series ofJim Crow laws passed by the white-dominated legislature. They did not achieve change then.[30]
Development in the city's business district grew rapidly. The Masonic Lodge, built by and for the African-American chapter in the city, was the tallest building in Pine Bluff when completed in 1904.[31] The Hotel Pines, constructed in 1912, had an intricate marble interior and classical design, and was considered one of Arkansas' showcase hotels.[32] The 1,500-seatSaenger Theater, built in 1924, was one of the largest such facilities in the state; it operated the state's largest pipe organ.[33] WhenDollarway Road was completed in 1914, it was the longest continuous stretch of concrete road in the United States.[34] The first radio station (WOK) broadcast in Arkansas occurred in Pine Bluff on February 18, 1922.[35]
Two natural disasters had devastating effects on the area's economy. The first was theGreat Flood of 1927, a100-year flood. Due to levee breaks, most of northern and southeastern Jefferson County were flooded. The severe drought of 1930 caused another failure of crops, adding to the problems of economic conditions during theGreat Depression. Pine Bluff residents scrambled to survive. In 1930, two of the larger banks failed. During the 1933 Mississippi River flood, country singerJohnny Cash evacuated to Pine Bluff.[36]
The state's highway construction program in the later 1920s and early 1930s, facilitating trade between Pine Bluff and other communities throughout southeast Arkansas, was critical to Jefferson County, too. After the inauguration of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, he launched many government programs to benefit local communities. Through theWorks Progress Administration (WPA) and public works funding, Pine Bluff built new schools and a football stadium, and developed Oakland Park as its first major recreation facility. To encourage diversification in agriculture, the county built astockyard in 1936 to serve as a sales outlet for farmers' livestock.[citation needed]
From 1936 to 1938, the WPA through theFederal Writers' Project initiated a project to collect and publish oral histories of former slaves. Writers were sent throughout the South to interview former slaves, most of whom had been children before the Civil War.[37] When the project was complete, Arkansas residents had contributed more oral slave histories (approximately 780) than any other state, although Arkansas' slave population was less than those of neighboring Deep South states.[37] African-American residents of Pine Bluff/Jefferson County contributed more oral interviews of Arkansas-born slaves than any other city/county in the state.[38] The city served to compile a valuable storehouse of oralslave narrative material.
Mixed-race line ofFreedom Train visitors waiting in line two hours before the exhibition opened, January 1948
World War II brought profound changes to Pine Bluff and its agriculture, timber and railroad-oriented economy. The Army built Grider Field Airport which housed the Pine Bluff School of Aviation and furnished flight training for air cadets for theArmy Air Corps. At one time 275 aircraft were being used to train 758 pilots. Approximately 9,000 pilots had been trained by the time the school closed in October 1944.[39]
The Army broke ground for thePine Bluff Arsenal on December 2, 1941, on 15,000 acres (61 km2) bought north of the city. The arsenal and Grider Field changed Pine Bluff to a more diversified economy with a mixture of industry and agriculture. The addition of small companies to the industrial base helped the economy remain steady in the late 1940s.[citation needed] Defense spending in association with theKorean War was a stabilizing factor after 1950.
In 1957, Richard Anderson announced the construction of akraft paper mill north of the city.[citation needed] International Paper Co. shortly afterward bought a plant site five miles east of Pine Bluff. Residential developments followed for expected workers. The next year young ministerMartin Luther King Jr. addressed students at the commencement program for Arkansas AM&N College (now theUniversity of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).[40]
The decade of the 1960s brought heightened activism in the civil rights movement: through boycotts and demonstrations, African Americans demanded an end to segregated public facilities and jobs.[41] Whites responded with violence, attacking demonstrators, and bombing a black church in Pine Bluff in 1963.[42] Some civil rights demonstrators were shot.[43] Local leaders worked tirelessly, at times enlisting the support of national figures such asDick Gregory andStokely Carmichael, to help bring about change over the period.[44][45] Voter registration drives that enabled increased black political participation, selective buying campaigns, student protests, and a desire among white local business leaders to avoid damaging negative media portrayals in the national media led to reforms in public accommodations.
During the 1960s and 1970s, major construction projects in the region included private and public sponsors: Jefferson Hospital (now Jefferson Regional Medical Center), the dams of theMcClellan-Kerr Navigation System on the Arkansas River (which was diverted from the city to create Lake Langhofer), a Federal building, the Pine Bluff Convention Center complex including The Royal Arkansas Hotel & Suites, Pine Bluff Regional Park, two industrial parks and several large churches.
The 1980s and 1990s brought a number of significant construction projects. Benny Scallion Park was created, named for the alderman who brought aJapanese garden to the Pine Bluff Civic Center. The city has not maintained the garden, but a small plaque remains.[citation needed] In the late 1980s, The Pines, the first large, enclosed shopping center, was constructed on the east side of the city. The mall attracted increased shopping traffic from southeast Arkansas.[citation needed]
The most important construction project of the 1990s was completion of a southern bypass, designated part ofInterstate 530. In addition, a highway and bridge across Lock and Dam #4 were completed, providing another link between farm areas in northeastern Jefferson County and the transportation system radiating from Pine Bluff. Through a private matching grant, a multimillion-dollar Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas was completed downtown in 1994.[46]
In 2000, construction was completed on the 43,000-square-foot (4,000 m2) Donald W. Reynolds Community Services Center.[47] Carl Redus became the first African American mayor in the city's history in 2005.[48] TheUniversity of Arkansas at Pine Bluff recently opened a $3 million business incubator indowntown Pine Bluff.[49] Also, a new $2 millionfarmers market pavilion was opened in 2010 on Lake Pine Bluff in downtown Pine Bluff.[50]
Shirley Washington was elected as the first female African American mayor. She was elected in 2016.[51] Beginning around 2020, Utah based entrepreneur John Fenley, owner of the music streaming serviceMurfie, began buying properties in Pine Bluff for redevelopment.[52]
Pine Bluff is on theArkansas River; the community was named for abluff along that river. Both Lake Pine Bluff and Lake Langhofer are situated within the city limits, as these are bodies of water which are remnants of the historical Arkansas River channel. (The former is a man-made expansion of a natural oxbow; the latter was created by diking the old channel after a man-made diversion.) Consequently, theMississippi Alluvial Plain (or theArkansas Delta) runs well into the city withBayou Bartholomew picking up the western border as a line of demarcation between theArkansas Delta and theArkansas Timberlands.[citation needed]
A series of levees and dams surrounds the area to provide for flood control and protect from channel shift. One of the world's longest individual levees at 380 miles runs from Pine Bluff toVenice,Louisiana.[53]
Pine Bluff is the largest city in a two-county micropolitan statistical area (μSA) as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau includingJefferson andCleveland counties, with an estimated population of 71,039 in 2023. The Pine Bluff area is also a component of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area which had a population of 913,536 people in the 2023 U.S. census estimate.[54]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 46.8 square miles (121 km2), of which 45.6 square miles (118 km2) is land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km2), or 2.65%, is water.
Climate data for Pine Bluff, Arkansas (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1884–present)
Pine Bluff, Arkansas – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of thecensus[64] of 2010, there were 49,083 people, 18,071 households, and 11,594 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,048.8 inhabitants per square mile (404.9/km2). There were 20,923 housing units at an average density of 447.1 units per square mile (172.6 units/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 75.6%Black orAfrican American, 21.8%White, 0.2%Native American, 0.63%Asian, 0.01%Pacific Islander, 0.68% fromother races, and 1.1% from two or more races. 1.5% of the population wereLatino of any race.
There were 18,071 households, out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.3% weremarried couples living together, 27.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.5% under the age of 18, 13.4% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,415, and the median income for a family was $39,993. Males had a median income of $38,333 versus $28,936 for females. Theper capita income for the city was $17,334. About 24.3% of families and 30.6% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 45.6% of those under age 18 and 13.7% of those age 65 or over.
Pine Bluff had 23 homicides in 2021.[65] Pine Bluff had 23 murders in 2020 – a rate of 56.5 murders per 100,000 people. The national average was 6.5 murders per 100,000 people in 2020.[66]
Major area employers include Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Simmons First National Corp.,Tyson Foods, Evergreen Packaging, thePine Bluff Arsenal and theUnion Pacific Railroad. It is the large number of paper mills in the area that give Pine Bluff its, at times, distinctive odor, a feature known prominently among Arkansans.[68]
In 2009, Pine Bluff was included on theForbes list of America's 10 most impoverished cities.[69]
Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff was the first purpose-built casino in Arkansas. Completed in 2020 at a cost of $350 million, it will employ over 1,100 full-time staff.[70]
The Pine Bluff Convention Center is one of the state's largest meeting facilities. The Arts and Science Center features theatrical performances and workshops for children and adults. Pine Bluff did also boast the only Band Museum in the country but it has closed. Other areas of interest includedowntown murals depicting the history of Pine Bluff, the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Historical Museum, Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Railroad Museum.
TheKing Cotton Classic, which ran from 1982 to 1999, was one of the premierhigh school basketball tournaments in the country. It featured many futureNBA players, includingCorliss Williamson andJason Kidd. The King Cotton Holiday Classic returned to the Pine Bluff Convention Center on December 27, 2018, as part of Go Forward, headed by Sam Glover.
The City of Pine Bluff is governed by themayor–council government system, with the mayor, city attorney, city clerk and treasurer are all elected at large. The Pine Bluff City Council is the legislative body of the city. This group is constituted of eight members, with two members representing each of the city's four wards.[71] Each council member serves a four-year term, and elections are staggered every two years. Meetings of the city council are held in the Pine Bluff City Council Chambers on the first and third Monday of every month unless otherwise scheduled.[72]
The city also has ten commissions for citizens to serve upon, with approval required by both the mayor and city council. They are: Advertising and Promotion, Aviation, Civic Auditorium Complex, Civil Service, Historic District, Historical Railroad Preservation, Parks and Recreation, Pine Bluff / Jefferson County Port Authority, Planning and Wastewater Utility. The city also has four boards and one commission that fills their own vacancies: Arkansas River Regional Intermodal Facilities Board,Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas Board of Trustees, Cemetery Committee, Library Board and Taylor Field Operations Facilities Board.[citation needed]
As the county seat of Jefferson County, Pine Bluff also hosts all functions of county government at theJefferson County Courthouse in downtown Pine Bluff.[citation needed]
TheUniversity of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is the second oldest public educational institution in the state of Arkansas, and the oldest with a black heritage. It maintains one of the nation's few aquaculture research programs and the only one in the state of Arkansas.[73] It also houses the University Museum and Cultural Center dedicated to preserving the history of UAPB and theArkansas Delta.
The newly accreditedSoutheast Arkansas College features technical career programs as well as a 2-year college curriculum.
In December 2020 the Arkansas State Board of Education ruled that theDollarway School District should merge into the Pine Bluff School District as of July 1, 2021. According to the consolidation plan, all schools of the two districts will continue to operate post-merger.[75] Accordingly, the attendance boundary maps of the respective schools remained the same for the 2021–2022 school year, and all DSD territory went into the PBSD territory.[76] The exception was with the pre-kindergarten levels, as all PBSD areas are now assigned to Forrest Park/Greenville School, including the territory from the former Dollarway district.[77]Dollarway High School closed in 2023.[78]
St. Peter's Catholic School – The first school in Arkansas for black children to be established,[81] was established in 1889 by St. Joseph Church Pastor Monsignor John Michael "J.M." Lucey as the Colored Industrial Institute and in 1897 became St. Peter Academy a.k.a. St. Peter High School. It closed in 1975, and reopened as an elementary school (Grades Preschool through 6) operated by theSchool Sisters of Notre Dame in 1985. It closed permanently in 2012. It was the last Catholic school established for black students in the State of Arkansas.[82]
St. Raphael School – A majority black school, it closed in 1960[82]
ThePine Bluff and Jefferson County Library System maintains its main library in the Civic Center in downtown. The city received its first library in 1913.[83] The library system also operates the Watson Chapel Dave Burdick Library in theWatson Chapel neighborhood.[84]
Located on the navigableArkansas River, with a slackwater harbor, Pine Bluff is accessible by water via the Port of Pine Bluff, the anchor of the city's Harbor Industrial District.
Daily commercial air freight and passenger services, along with scheduled commuter flights, are available at theClinton National Airport (formerly Little Rock National Airport), Adams Field, (LIT), some 40 minutes driving time from Pine Bluff viaInterstate 530 and interstate connectors.
Royal Coach Lines offers local access to intrastate, regional, and charter services.
The city-ownedPine Bluff Transit operates six routes on a 12-hour/day, weekday basis, to various points including government, medical, educational and shopping centers.[86] Two of the buses have professional-quality murals advertising the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
In 1972, the City of Pine Bluff and the "Fifty for the Future," a business leader group, donated 80 acres (32 ha) of land to theArkansas Department of Correction (ADC). This parcel was developed as the Pine Bluff Complex.[87]
Water is pumped from 12 wells that pump from the Sparta Sand Aquifer to three water treatment plants capable of producing 20,000,000 US gallons (76,000,000 L) per day (total). Each plant uses a process of pre-chlorination, aeration, filtration, and chlorine residual.Hydrofluosilic acid andzinc orthophosphate are also added in addition to chlorine. The water is then distributed to approximately serving over 18,000 customers via 388 miles (624 km) of water distribution mains.[99] A Source Water Vulnerability Assessment was conducted by the Arkansas Department of Health in 2013; it concluded that Pine Bluff's water supply is at medium susceptibility to contamination[100]
The Pine Bluff Wastewater Utility provides operation and maintenance of the city's municipally ownedsewage collection and conveyance system. This system includes over 450 miles (720 km) of pipe and 52 lift stations to collect municipal and industrial wastewater and convey it to the Boyd Point Treatment Facility (BPTF). This facility treats and discharges treated effluent in accordance with a permit issued by theArkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). The BPTF was most recently renovated in 2010 and is currently permitted to discharge a maximum daily flow of 30,000,000 US gallons (110,000,000 L).[101]
The utility has been awarded by theNational Association of Clean Water Agencies for its performance. In an Enforcement Compliance review completed in March 2014, it was noted that zero permit violations had occurred within the past three years.[102]
Townsend Park was built on a 100-acre (40 ha) plot of land meant for a park for black people. The land was donated by the president of theArkansas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal College to the state government. It was named after Merrill High School principal William J. Townsend.[103]
^Arnold, Morris S. “Barthélémy Dit Charlot, a Colonial Arkansas Métis and Voyageur.”The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 74, no. 1, Arkansas Historical Association, 2015, p. 12,JSTOR website Retrieved December 4, 2021.
^Arnold, Morris (Summer 2016). "The Métis People of Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century Arkansas".Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association.57 (3): 278-282 – via JSTOR
^"Station: Pine Bluff, AR".U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. RetrievedJune 19, 2021.
^"Station: Pine Bluff Grider FLD, AR".U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. RetrievedJune 19, 2021.
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