Fouke is a city in Miller 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 is part of the

Texarkana, Texas Texarkana is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States, in the Ark-La-Tex region. Located approximately from Dallas, Texarkana is a twin cities, twin city with neighboring Texarkana, Arkansas. The Texas city's population was 36,193 at the 2 ...

Texarkana, Arkansas Texarkana is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Miller County, on the southwest border of the state. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 29,387. It is the twin city of Texarkana, Texas, located just acros ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 810 in 2024

Geography

Fouke is located in central Miller County, along U.S. Highway 71.

Interstate 49 Interstate 49 (I-49) is a north–south Interstate Highway with multiple segments. The original portion is entirely within Louisiana with an additional signed portion extending from Interstate 220 (Louisiana), I-220 in Shreveport, Louisian ...

passes just to the west of the city limits and serves the city with two exits. Fouke is southeast of

Texarkana The Texarkana metropolitan statistical area (MSA), as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, is a two-county region anchored by the Twin cities (geographical proximity), twin cities of Texarkana, Texas (population 37,33 ...

and about north of

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

, by either highway. The Red River passes less than to the east and south of Fouke. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all land.

History

The area around Fouke had long been inhabited by the Native American

Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, who ...

people, prior to

European colonization of the Americas During the Age of Discovery, a large scale colonization of the Americas, involving a number of European countries, took place primarily between the late 15th century and the early 19th century. The Norse explored and colonized areas of Europe a ...

. Caddo tribes and European explorers traded pelts, honey, beeswax, flour, tobacco, blankets, guns, and other items. After the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

, the United States established the Sulphur Fork Factory (

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

) where the Sulphur River enters the Red River. In the years following Arkansas statehood, settlers began flowing steadily into the area and the Caddo population was greatly diminished. In 1889,

Seventh Day Baptist Seventh Day Baptists are Baptists who observe the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as a holy day to God. They adopt a theology common to Baptists, profess the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, perform the conscious b ...

minister James Franklin Shaw and his followers were seeking an area to establish a new colony. In 1890, they chose a site along the Texarkana, Shreveport and Natchez Railroad, where a small timber line ended at Fouke's Sawmill. The streets were named for prominent, nationally known Baptists, and upon advertising the area with the offer of reasonably priced land, affordable lumber, and free railroad passage, pioneers traveled to the area from as far away as

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. James H. Fouke, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

entrepreneur, lumberman, and railroad executive, helped them establish their colony, and in 1902 he donated land for a school. The city of Fouke was named in his honor. By the early 1920s, the farming and timber industries had brought people of many faiths to the community. A new

Texas and Pacific Railroad The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California. However its lines never went we ...

depot was constructed in 1906, and the community was incorporated in 1911. Population growth increased during the 1920s oil boom, and in 1928 construction of U.S. Route 71 further increased Fouke's employment opportunities. During the

Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...

of 1920–1936, Fouke suffered violent deaths of many men in relation to the illegal trafficking of liquor. Interstate commerce was not well coordinated during that time, which made Fouke's location attractive to those who would commit crimes and then cross the adjoining border(s). Since the 1920s, Fouke has had a reputation as a

sundown town Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, were all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States. They were towns that practiced a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combinati ...

. The Fouke State Bank was chartered in 1914, but it went broke during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and job losses in the community caused many to accept work as part of Depression-era programs such as the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

and the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. It was not until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

that large numbers of the citizens found employment at the newly established Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant and

Red River Army Depot The Red River Army Depot (RRAD) is an (24 sq. mi) depot-level maintenance facility west of Texarkana, Texas, in Bowie County. History RRAD was activated in 1941 to create an ammunition storage facility. Due to the demands of WWII, the mi ...

, which were located just west of

. Since its incorporation, the city of Fouke has seen many improvements to its infrastructure. Dirt and gravel streets were paved in 1958. A new city hall, jail, and fire station were constructed in 1962. A new "Deep-Well" water system was completed in 1966, and the city's sewer system was completed in 1988. In 1972, Fouke received national attention when Charles B. Pierce produced a movie called ''The Legend of Boggy Creek''. The movie chronicled the alleged existence of a large, hairy, ape-like creature called the " Fouke Monster". A number of local citizens were cast, and the movie used area wetlands, rivers, and creeks for its location. In 2001 Fouke celebrated the grand opening of the Fouke Community Center, and the grand opening of the Miller County Historical and Family Museum was celebrated in 2003. In 2010, Fouke citizens dedicated the Veterans Memorial Park. The memorial covers two-thirds of a city block. It is a perpetually flagged and lighted monument that contains a growing list of veterans' names and military histories. In 2011, local groups such as the Citizens for a Better Community raised funds to provide improvements that include "Welcome" signs on Highway 71 at the north and south ends of the city, along with various beautification and community service projects. They purchased one of Fouke's historic homes with a plan to renovate and restore it to create an events center and community library. By that time, the Fouke School District had become the city's largest employer, with more than 1,000 students and more than 165 employees. In 2013, Fouke began the Boggy Creek Festival to promote the local area, bring together the community, and to share information and humor about the "Fouke Monster".

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 808 people, 281 households, and 204 families residing in the city.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 700 people, 291 households, and 220 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 336 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.3%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 2.5% Native American, 0.6% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. 1.7% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 291 households, out of which 47.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.1% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.26. In the city, the population was spread out, with 33.8% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 16.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $25,192, and the median income for a family was $35,089. Males had a median income of $26,938 versus $20,375 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $11,075. About 18.0% of families and 17.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.4% of those under age 18 and 26.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Public education for early childhood, elementary and secondary school students is primarily provided by the Fouke School District, which leads to graduation from Fouke High School.

Media

Fouke is served by media from

, and

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

Infrastructure

Highways

* U.S. Route 71

Local history

* Historic Scoggins House Community Event Center & Library: Library, genealogy, and local historical research and event space

Image gallery

File:Fouke, AR, City Hall IMG 6350.jpeg, City Hall in Fouke File:Fouke, AR Post Office IMG 6346.jpeg, The

U.S. Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal serv ...

in Fouke is of

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...

design. File:Jerry's General Store, Fouke, AR IMG 6351.jpeg, Jerry's General Store in Fouke File:First Baptist Church, Fouke, AR IMG 6353.jpg, First

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church of Fouke File:Monster_Mart,_Fouke,_Arkansas,_January_5,_2016.jpg, Monster Mart in Fouke File:Fouke,_Arkansas_water_tower_January_5,_2016.jpg, Water tower in Fouke

References

External links

*
Fouke, Arkansas
at the

Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism The Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism (ADPHT) is a cabinet level agency in the executive branch of Arkansas state government responsible for promoting, protecting, interpreting, and managing the state's natural and cultural r ...

Arkansas Great Southwest
regional information {{authority control Cities in Miller County, Arkansas Cities in Arkansas Texarkana metropolitan area