White County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 76,822. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Searcy. White County is Arkansas's 31st county, formed on October 23, 1835, from portions of

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, Jackson, and Pulaski counties and named for

Hugh Lawson White Hugh Lawson White (October 30, 1773April 10, 1840) was an American politician during the first third of the 19th century. After filling in several posts particularly in Tennessee's judiciary and state legislature since 1801, thereunder as a Tenn ...

, a Whig candidate for President of the United States. It is an alcohol prohibition or

dry county In the United States, a dry county is a county whose local government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. The vast majority of counties n ...

, though a few private establishments (such as the Searcy Country Club, and

Veterans of Foreign Wars The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States Armed Forces, United States war veterans who fought in wars, Military campaign, campaig ...

posts in Searcy and Beebe) can serve alcohol. White County comprises the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

North Little Rock North Little Rock (often abbreviated "NLR") is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States. Located on the north side of the Arkansas River, it is the twin city of Little Rock. In the late nineteenth century, it was annexed by Little Ro ...

, AR Combined Statistical Area.

History

The first Americans that are believed to have settled in White County were John and Nancy Magness. They started in Tennessee and came to White County around 1815 and set up a farm in what is now Letona. White County was established by act of the Arkansas territorial legislature on October 23, 1835, by combining parts of

, Jackson, and Pulaski counties. On May 17, 1862, White County was the site of the Little Red Skirmish between Union Major General Samuel J Curtis and a force of about 100 loosely-organized Confederates, followed by the battle at Whitney Lane in June. also known as The Skirmish at Searcy Landing. In 1876, a religious cult called the Cobbites existed for a short period south of Searcy. Named after the group's leader, Reverend Cobb, bizarre behavior by members of the cult led to attention from local citizens, but after the murder of a man from Searcy, a mob attacked the group. Several Cobbites were killed and others arrested. Little is known about Reverend Cobb, not even his full name, other than that he came from Tennessee to White County in 1876. To his followers, he claimed to be God or Jesus Christ. He apparently believed he could perform the works of God, and he used a sycamore pole to command the

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

to rise each morning and did the same each evening to command it to set. During the 1960s, the U.S. Department of Defense constructed several Titan II missile silos in the county in the early 1960s. An accident at one site in 1965 killed fifty-three workers when a welder hit a hydraulic line with their welding rod, causing a fire that removed the oxygen and suffocated most of the workers in the facility.

Geography

According to the

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

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.7%) is water. It is the second-largest county by area in Arkansas.

Major highways

Interstate 57 Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway that exists in two segments. It runs through Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois. I-57 parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route north of Interstate 55, I-55. T ...

* U.S. Highway 64 * U.S. Highway 67 * U.S. Highway 167 * Highway 5 * Highway 11 * Highway 13 * Highway 16 * Highway 31 * Highway 36 * Highway 87 * Highway 110 * Highway 124 * Highway 157 * Highway 258 * Highway 267 * Highway 305 * Highway 310 * Highway 320 * Highway 321 * Highway 323 * Highway 367 * Highway 385

Adjacent counties

* Independence County (north) * Jackson County (northeast) * Woodruff County (east) * Prairie County (southeast) * Lonoke County (southwest) * Faulkner County (west) * Cleburne County (northwest)

National and state protected areas

* Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge * Henry Gray / Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 76,822 people, 28,621 households, and 18,028 families residing in the county.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 67,165 people, 25,148 households, and 18,408 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 27,613 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.52%

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 ...

, 3.56%

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 ...

, 0.43% Native American, 0.32% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.82% from other races, and 1.31% from two or more races. 1.88% 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 25,148 households, out of which 33.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.90% were married couples living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.80% were non-families. 23.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 2.98. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.40% under the age of 18, 12.80% from 18 to 24, 27.20% from 25 to 44, 21.90% from 45 to 64, and 13.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $32,203, and the median income for a family was $38,782. Males had a median income of $29,884 versus $20,323 for females. The per capita income for the county was $15,890. About 10.40% of families and 14.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.10% of those under age 18 and 14.30% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The county government is a constitutional body granted specific powers by the

Constitution of Arkansas The Constitution of Arkansas is the Constitution, primary organizing law for the U.S. state of Arkansas delineating the duties, powers, structures, and functions of the Politics and government of Arkansas, state government. Arkansas' original ...

and the Arkansas Code. The quorum court is the legislative branch of the county government and controls all spending and revenue collection. Representatives are called justices of the peace and are elected from county districts every even-numbered year. The number of districts in a county vary from nine to fifteen, and district boundaries are drawn by the county election commission. The White County Quorum Court has thirteen members. Presiding over quorum court meetings is the county judge, who serves as the chief executive officer of the county. The county judge is elected at-large and does not vote in quorum court business, although capable of vetoing quorum court decisions. The 45th White County Judge was Michael Lincoln of Searcy, who served from January 2007 until his retirement in 2025. The current Judge is Lisa Brown, who succeeded Lincoln in January 2025. In 1988, White County elected virtually an entire slate of Republicans to county offices. Though such Republican sweeps had frequently occurred in northern and northwestern Arkansas, White County was the first in the Little Rock area to turn to Republicans as the party steadily made inroads toward a

two-party system A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...

. At the state level, White County is represented in the Arkansas State Senate by Republican Jonathan Dismang, a public accountant and former state representative from Searcy, of the 18th District. In the

Arkansas House of Representatives The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Arkansas. The House has 100 members elected from an equal number of constituencies across the state. Each distr ...

, White County is split between five districts: the 39th, 40th, 57th, 58th, and 59th. District 39 is represented by Republican Wayne Long of Bradford, District 40 by Republican Shad Pearce of Batesville in Independence County, District 57 by Republican Cameron Cooper of Romance, District 58 by Republican Les Eaves of Searcy, and District 59 by Republican Jim Wooten of Beebe. White County is also under the state's 17th Judicial District, along with Prairie County, and is served by

Prosecuting Attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

Rebecca Reed McCoy. At the Federal level, White County is represented in the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

by Republicans

John Boozman John Nichols Boozman ( ; born December 10, 1950) is an American politician and former optometrist serving as the senior United States senator from Arkansas, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. repre ...

and

Tom Cotton Thomas Bryant Cotton (born May 13, 1977) is an American politician and United States Army, Army veteran serving since 2015 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Arkansas. A memb ...

. In the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

, it is in

Arkansas's 2nd Congressional District Arkansas's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district located in the central part of the U.S. state of Arkansas and includes most of the state capital of Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, its suburbs, and surrounding areas. The dist ...

and represented by Republican French Hill of

. Over the past few election cycles White County has trended heavily towards the GOP. The last Democrat (as of 2024) to carry this county was

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in 1996. The composition of the Quorum Court following the 2024 elections is 13 Republicans. Justices of the Peace (members) of the Quorum Court following the elections are: Additionally, the townships of White County are entitled to elect their own respective constables, as set forth by the

. Constables are largely of historical significance as they were used to keep the peace in rural areas when travel was more difficult. The township constables as of the 2024 elections are: * Big Creek: Jesse Pate (R) * Cadron: Dusty Betts (R) * Cypert: Brent Davis (R) * Dogwood: Paul Barnett (R) * Gray: Kim Pearson (R) * Gum Springs: Kevin McCoy (R) * Harrison: Greg Meharg (R) * Liberty: Phillip Simpson (R) * Union: Chris Ward (R)

Economy

One of the state's largest banks, First Security Bank, was established in Searcy in 1932 as Security Bank. First Security now has over $8 billion in assets and 78 locations in Arkansas. The first Wal-Mart distribution center away from the corporate headquarters in Bentonville was established in Searcy.

Education

Public education

Public education is provided by several public school districts including: A small portion of northern White County, including the community of Roosevelt, is in the Midland School District, located in neighboring Independence County. A small portion of western White County, including Hammondsville, is in the Mount Vernon-Enola School District, located in neighboring Faulkner County.

Private education

Colleges and universities

* Arkansas State University-Beebe Public, established in 1927 as The Junior Agricultural School of Central Arkansas. * Arkansas State University-Searcy A technical branch of

Arkansas State University Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the st ...

Harding University Harding University is a Private university, private Christian university with its main campus in Searcy, Arkansas, United States. Established in 1924, the institution offers Undergraduate education, undergraduate, Postgraduate education, gradu ...

Private, Churches of Christ enrollment over 6000.

Communities

Cities

* Bald Knob * Beebe *

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

* Judsonia * Kensett * McRae * Pangburn * Searcy (county seat)

Towns

* Garner * Georgetown * Griffithville * Higginson * Letona * Rose Bud * Russell *

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

Unincorporated communities

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

— north-central White County, between Four Mile Hill or "Boothill" and Pangburn, and north of Letona, along Arkansas Highway 16 and surrounding county roads *

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

— western White County, north of Beebe, along Arkansas Highways 31 and 267 and surrounding county roads * Andrews * Bare Stone * Barrentine Corner * Bee Rock * Belcher * Center Hill — central White County, approximately 8 miles west of Searcy, situated along Arkansas Highway 36 and 305 and surrounding county roads * Clay * Conant * Crosby * Dewey * Dogwood * Doniphan *

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 ...

— southwestern White County, situated along Arkansas Highway 5 and U.S. Highway 64 West * Enright * Essex * Floyd — western White County, approximately 8 miles southeast of Romance, along Arkansas Highways 31 and 305 and surrounding county roads * Four Mile Hill or "Boot Hill" — central White County, northwest of Searcy and southeast of Albion, along Arkansas Highway 16 and surrounding county roads * Georgia Ridge – home community of Arkansas State Representative Charlotte Douglas of District 75 in Crawford County * Gravel Hill — western White County, northwest of Floyd and south of Joy, situated between Arkansas Highways 31 and 36 along Gravel Hill Road and surrounding county roads * Hammondsville – western White County, between Romance and El Paso, primarily situated along Hammons Chapel Road (connecting Highway 5 and El Paso Road) *

Happy Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...

— 2.9 miles (4.7 km) north of Griffithville and 7.5 miles (12.1 km) southeast of Searcy along Arkansas Highway 385 *

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

— central White County, southwest of Center Hill, situated along Arkansas Highway 305 and surrounding county roads * Hart * Hickory Flat * Holly Springs * Joy — central White County, between Rose Bud and Center Hill, situated along Arkansas Highway 36 and surrounding county roads * Keeler Corner * Liberty Valley — eastern White County, between Bald Knob and the White River, along U.S. Highway 64 East and surrounding county roads * Little Red * Midway (near Bald Knob) — 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of Bald Knob on Arkansas Highway 367 * Midway (near Pleasant Plains) — 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Pleasant Plains on U.S. Route 167 * Mitchell Corner * Morning Sun — annexed to Higginson in 2008 * Nimmo *

Opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ...

— southwestern White County, between El Paso and Beebe, along U.S. Highway 64 West and Opal Road and surrounding county roads * Pickens — north-central White County, between Sidon and Letona, along Arkansas Highway 310 (Pickens Chapel Road) and Pickens Road and surrounding county roads * Plainview — northeastern White County, north of Judsonia, along Arkansas Highways 157 and 385 and surrounding county roads * Pryor * Providence — northeastern White County, north of Judsonia and northwest of Bald Knob, along Arkansas Highways 157 and 258 and surrounding county roads; site of White County Central Schools * Rio Vista * Romance — western White County, between Rose Bud and El Paso, along Arkansas Highways 5 and 31 and surrounding county roads * Showalter's Corner *

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

— north-central White County, west of Pickens and north of Joy, along Arkansas Highway 310 and surrounding county roads * Smyrna * Steprock * Sunnydale * Twentythree — northeastern White County, 5 mile north of Bald Knob, along U.S. Highway 167 and surrounding county roads * Velvet Ridge — northeastern White County, 8 mile north of Bald Knob, along U.S. Highway 167 and surrounding county roads * Vinity Corner — south-central White County, south of Garner and southeast of McRae, along West Vinity Road, North Vinity Road, and other county roads southeast of Arkansas Highway 367 * Walker — southeastern White County, south of Higginson and west of Griffithville, along Arkansas Highway 11 (Walker Road) and surrounding county roads * Worden * Wright's Corner

Historic towns

* Beeler Ferry * Bethel Grove * Denmark * Jasmine * Mount Pisgah * Old Stoney Point * Roosevelt * Russell * Union Hill

Townships

* Bald Knob ( Bald Knob) * Big Creek ( Pangburn) * Cadron *

Cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick, or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking * Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance * White cane, a mobility or safety device used by blind or visually i ...

* Chrisp *

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

* Coffey * Coldwell * Crosby * Cypert *

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

* Des Arc *

Dogwood ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods or cornels, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous ...

( Griffithville) *

* Francure ( Georgetown) * Garner ( Garner) * Gravel Hill *

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

(most of Searcy, part of Kensett) * Gum Springs (part of Searcy) * Guthrie * Harrison (most of Judsonia, part of Searcy) * Hartsell Township * Higginson Township ( Higginson, part of Searcy) * Jackson * Jefferson * Joy * Kensett (most of Kensett, small part of Searcy) *

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

( Rose Bud) *

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

(

) * McRae ( McRae) * Marion ( Letona) *

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

* Mount Pisgah * Red River (

, part of Judsonia) *

Royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...

* Russell ( Russell) * Union ( Beebe) * Velvet Ridge * Walker Source:

References

External links

White County, Arkansas
entry on the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture
White County Historical Society

White County official website
{{authority control 1835 establishments in Arkansas Territory Populated places established in 1835 Little Rock–North Little Rock–Conway metropolitan area