Richmond 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 ...

Little River County, Arkansas Little River County is a County (United States), county located on the southwest border of the U.S. state of Arkansas, bordering a corner with Texas and Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 12,026. Th ...

, United States. Richmond prospered as a commercial and political center during the late 1800s.

History

The area was explored by

Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe (4 February 1683 in Saint-Malo – 26 September 1765) was a French explorer who is credited with using the name "Little Rock" in 1722 for a stone outcropping on the bank of the Arkansas River used by early travele ...

, who is believed to have camped northeast of Richmond in 1719. Located approximately from the Red River, Richmond and other nearby settlements "existed mainly because of the river, which grew into a major commercial outlet from the 1830s to the 1890s". Richmond was founded by settlers from Alabama around 1853. A one-room schoolhouse was built in 1854, and prior to 1861, a two-room school was erected near the earlier building. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Judge Lewis Davis, father of Arkansas governor Jeff Davis, taught at the school. The school building was declared unsafe in 1902, so classes were moved to the old courthouse until around 1929, when a new brick school was built. The early schools were also used for church services. In 1850, of land located east of the settlement was donated for the establishment of Richmond Church and Cemetery. A post office was established in 1857. During the

, troops of the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

led by brigadier general

Sterling Price Sterling Price (September 14, 1809 – September 29, 1867) was an American politician and military officer who was a senior General officers in the Confederate States Army, officer of the Confederate States Army, fighting in both the Weste ...

camped at Richmond for three weeks in December 1864 while returning from battle. While there, 17 soldiers died and were buried in Richmond Cemetery. In 2012, a plaque commemorating their deaths was placed at the cemetery by the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

. Richmond prospered during the late 1870s and early 1980s when it contained a chapter of the Woman's Missionary Society (1875); a

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

(No.174); a steam-powered machine for grinding corn, sawing lumber, and ginning cotton (1876); a hotel called the Grand Central; a molasses mill, bank, blacksmith, churches, two gristmills, two drugstores, five law officials, and eight stores; and a newspaper called the ''Little River Pilot'' (1880). Also in 1880, a courthouse and jail were erected, and Richmond was named the county seat. After the courthouse burned in 1883, its rebuilding was paid for by the citizens of Richmond, who wanted their community to remain the county seat.

Decline

Railroads were built through Little River County in the late 1890s, thereby lessening the commercial importance of river navigation on which Richmond depended. The Texarkana and Fort Smith Railway was interested in building their railroad through Richmond, but some landowners refused to grant a right-of-way. The railway instead completed a line though nearby Ashdown in 1892. Without a railway, Richmond began to decline in population and importance. In 1902, the county seat was moved to Rocky Comfort, and in 1929 the post office closed.

Geography

Palmetto Flats Natural Area, the largest contiguous block of alluvial terrace forest in the Red River Valley in Arkansas, is located west of Richmond.

Notable person

Edwin Mims Edwin Mims (1872–1959) was an American university professor of English literature. He served as the chair of the English Department at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, for thirty years from 1912 to 1942, and he taught many members ...

, Chair of English at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Little River County, Arkansas Unincorporated communities in Arkansas