Floyd is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in western White County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 377. The rural community is situated along Highways 31 and

305 Year 305 ( CCCV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1058 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 305 for thi ...

, in addition to the county-maintained El Paso Road. Though relatively small, the community maintains a variety of activities and institutions throughout the year, notably its annual parade and display of fireworks during

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

Geography and history

Lacking exact boundaries, Floyd is located within Coffey Township, in western White County. The largest part of the community today is located approximately 11 miles northwest of

Beebe, Arkansas Beebe is a city in White County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 8,437 at the 2020 U.S. Census, making it the second most populous in the county. The city is home to Arkansas State University-Beebe. ASU-Beebe also has branch campu ...

. Among the earliest settlers in the area was James Barnett and his family in 1842; nearby Lake Barnett shares the name of these pioneers. Another indicator of the community's longevity is the first local cemetery, which was used as early as December 1865, when Jesse Levi Akin was the first person buried in what is now the Old Floyd Cemetery. The historic

Southwest Trail The Southwest Trail was a 19th-century pioneer route that was the primary passageway for American settlers bound for Texas. History The Southwest Trail, also known as the Old Military Road, replaced the older Natchitoches Trace, which ran f ...

, a path used by most travelers entering Arkansas early in the 1800s, entered Floyd on today's Highway 305 from Center Hill, then headed to

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

via El Paso Road. By the 1830s more than 80 percent of the Arkansas territory's population had entered through the Southwest Trail. The route is also known as the Old Military Road.

Demographics

2020 census

Education

While Floyd maintained a separate school district in its earlier years, the community today is served by the

Beebe School District Beebe School District is a public school district in Beebe, White County, Arkansas, United States. It serves Beebe, McRae, and El Paso. - See El Paso on the map. On July 1, 2004, the McRae School District merged into the Beebe School Distric ...

. The former school cafeteria still stands along the east side of Highway 31, and has served as a community center for many years since consolidation of the school district. In addition, the community hosts a chapter of the Extension Homemakers Clubs, an outreach of the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

Division of Agriculture's

Cooperative Extension Service The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) was an Extension agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), part of the executive branch of the federal government. The 1994 Department Reorganization Act ...

. Through the local EH Club, topics of improving community and family dynamics are often addressed through workshops, regular monthly member meetings, and participation in exhibitions such as the annual White County Fair and Livestock Show. Similarly, the community also offers a

4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...

chapter for area youth educational enhancement.

References

External links

Floyd historical information
from the White County Historical Society

{{authority control Populated places established in 1842 Unincorporated communities in Arkansas Unincorporated communities in White County, Arkansas Census-designated places in Arkansas Census-designated places in White County, Arkansas