Hickory Ridge is a city in Cross 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. The population was 272 at the 2010 census. Always a small farming community with an economy based on agriculture, a post office was first established in 1875, but the community did not incorporate until 1949.

History

A post office in Brushy Lake Township was named Hickory Ridge on October 5, 1875. The post office was closed shortly thereafter, and the area remained very sparsely populated because the soils were too wet to grow cotton. Following the Cotton Belt railway extension through the settlement around 1882, the community saw prosperity from timber and agriculture; reestablishing the Hickory Ridge post office in 1892. The city was racially segregated along the railroad tracks (similar to the Delmar Divide), and around 1910, white residents dynamited the black section of town, expelling all black residents. The city became completely white and evolved into

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 ...

through unwritten rules.

Geography

Hickory Ridge is located in northwestern Cross County. U.S. Route 49 passes through the community, leading north to Jonesboro and south to

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

at Brinkley. 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 ...

, Hickory Ridge has a total area of , all land. Hickory Ridge is within the

Mississippi embayment The Mississippi embayment is a physiographic feature in the south-central United States, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. It is essentially a northward continuation of the fluvial sediments of the Mississippi River Delta to its conflu ...

of the

Mississippi Alluvial Plain The Mississippi River Alluvial Plain is an alluvial plain created by the Mississippi River on which lie parts of seven U.S. states, from southern Louisiana to southern Illinois (Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Lo ...

, a flat fertile floodplain of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. In Arkansas, an economic and cultural region roughly following this geography is known as the

Arkansas Delta The Arkansas Delta is one of the six natural regions of the state of Arkansas. Willard B. Gatewood Jr., author of ''The Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox'', says that rich cotton lands of the Arkansas Delta make that area "The Deepest of the Deep ...

(or "the Delta"). Roughly the western third of Cross County is within the Western Lowlands Pleistocene Valley Train subregion of the Delta. This region is characterized as flat windblown deposits of silty, sandy soils, and

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

with a high groundwater table.

Post oak ''Quercus stellata'', the post oak or iron oak, is a North American species of oak in the white oak section. It is a slow-growing oak that lives in dry areas on the edges of fields, tops of ridges, and also grows in poor soils, and is resistant ...

and

loblolly pine ''Pinus taeda'', commonly known as loblolly pine, is one of several pines native to the Southeastern United States, from East Texas to Florida, and north to southern New Jersey. The wood industry classifies the species as a southern yellow pi ...

are native in the higher elevations, with

overcup oak ''Quercus lyrata'', the overcup oak, is an oak in the white oak group (''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus''). The common name, overcup oak, refers to its acorns that are mostly enclosed within the acorn cup. It is native to lowland wetlands in the east ...

water hickory ''Carya aquatica'', the bitter pecan or water hickory, is a large tree, that can grow over tall of the Juglandaceae or walnut family. In the American South it is a dominant plant species found on clay flats and backwater areas near streams and r ...

willow oak ''Quercus phellos'', the willow oak, is a North American species of a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the south-central and eastern United States. Description It is a medium-sized tree growing to tall (exceptiona ...

, and

pin oak ''Quercus palustris'', also called pin oak, swamp oak, or swamp Spanish oak, is a tree in the red oak section (''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae'') of the genus ''Quercus''. Pin oak is one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks in its native rang ...

and pondberry native in

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

. Today, row agriculture is extensive (mostly soybeans and cotton), with commercial

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

(

crawfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

, baitfish, and

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

farms) also common.

Demographics

At the 2000

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 ...

, there were 384 people, 155 households and 110 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 165 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 99.48%

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 ...

, 0.26% Asian, and 0.26% from two or more races. 0.26% 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 155 households, of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.2% 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, 13.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.4% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.01. Age distribution was 28.4% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.1 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...

was $22,778, and the median family income was $28,906. Males had a median income of $27,500 versus $15,750 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 $13,053. About 11.2% of families and 12.8% 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 10.5% of those under age 18 and 29.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Public education for elementary and secondary students is provided by the Cross County School District, which leads to graduation from Cross County High School. The district's mascot and athletic emblem is the Thunderbird. The Cross County district was established in 1965 by the merger of the Cherry Valley, Hickory Ridge, and Vanndale school districts. As a part of the Cross County district the community previously had its own elementary school, Hickory Ridge Elementary.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Hickory Ridge is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 49 (US 49) and Highway 42. The

Union Pacific Railway The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

closely parallels US 49 through Hickory Ridge.

Utilities

Entergy Arkansas is the sole provider of electricity in Hickory Ridge. Telephone communication service is provided by

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

, cable television is provided by East Arkansas Video.

Centerpoint Energy CenterPoint Energy, Inc. is an American utility company based in Houston, Texas, that provides electric and natural gas utility to customers in several markets in the American states of Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Tex ...

is the natural gas utility in Cross County. The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) is responsible for the regulation and oversight of public water systems throughout the state. Hickory Ridge Waterworks is a small water utility that treats and distributes groundwater to under 1000 customers.