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
Desha County, Arkansas
Desha County ( ) is a county located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of Arkansas, with its eastern border the Mississippi River. At the 2020 census, the population was 11,395. The county is plurality-African American. The county seat ...
, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 44.
History
John J. Bowie (eldest brother of
James Bowie
James Bowie ( ) (April 10, 1796 – March 6, 1836) was an American military officer, landowner and slave trader who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He was among the Americans who died at the Battle of the Alamo. Stories of him ...
) purchased land in the area in 1857.
Construction of the Mississippi, Ouachita and Red River Railroad—the first chartered railway in Arkansas—began in 1852, and of track had been laid west from Eunice by the start of the Civil War. The line passed through Bowie's land, and a stop there was called "Bowie Station". The railroad was completed after the war, but abandoned in 1875 after flooding on the Mississippi River damaged the railbed and bridges. Highway 208 between Eunice and Halley was built on the abandoned railbed.
Bowie Station was later renamed "Halley" after early settlers, the Halley family.
In 1901, a line of the
Missouri Pacific Railroad
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...
was built through Halley.
Demographics
2020 census
Infrastructure
The Halley Volunteer Fire Department is located in the settlement.
Education
It is in the
Dermott School District
Dermott School District is a school district headquartered in Dermott, Arkansas. In Chicot County, it serves Dermott. A portion of the district extends into Desha County, where it serves Halley. Another portion extends into Drew County, wh ...