e-ReferenceDesk's College and 50 State Learning Resource Guide

Find Online Colleges

Find Campus Colleges

Arkansas State...

Arkansas

Choose a County

Arkansas, Ashley, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Bradley, Calhoun, Carroll, Chicot, Clark, Clay, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Conway, Craighead, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Faulkner, Franklin, Fulton, Garland, Grant, Greene, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Little River, Logan, Lonoke, Madison, Marion, Miller, Mississippi, Monroe, Montgomery, Nevada, Newton, Ouachita, Perry, Phillips, Pike, Poinsett, Polk, Pope, Prairie, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Scott, Searcy, Sebastian, Sevier, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone, Union, Van Buren, Washington, White, Woodruff, Yell

Arkansas Counties

Click Image to Enlarge

Arkansas Counties

There are 75 Counties in the State of Arkansas which vary from the rich Delta farmlands of the Mississippi River valley to the rolling hills and gently sloped mountains of the Ozarks and Ouachitas

Lawrence County, Arkansas

Lawrence County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Walnut Ridge
Year Organized: 1815
Square Miles: 587

Court House:

315 W Main Street
County Courthouse
Walnut Ridge, AR 72476-1936

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Lawrence is named for James Lawrence, the naval officer in the War of 1812 who originated the phrase "Don't give up the ship!" James Lawrence (October 1, 1781 – June 4, 1813) was an American naval officer. During the War of 1812, he commanded the USS Chesapeake in a single-ship action against HMS Shannon (commanded by Philip Broke). He is probably best known today for his dying command "Don't give up the ship!", which is still a popular naval battle cry.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Formed in January 15, 1815, by the Missouri Legislature, which had jurisdiction over the region until Arkansas became a territory in 1819, the county seat is Walnut Ridge. The county was named for Capt. James Lawrence, a naval officer killed in the War of 1812. The landscape of Lawrence County is flat-topped rolling hills in the western half and flat fertile delta river bottomland in the eastern half. The economy is made up of agriculture, with rice, soybeans, and milo as leading crops. Cattle, poultry, and light manufacturing also contribute to the economy. There are three highways that make it convenient to ship in and out of the county. Three rivers, the Strawberry, Spring, and Black flow through the county. Lake Charles along with Lake Charles State Park offers fishing, hiking, and picnicking and water sports. The park consists of 645 acres with 96 campsites scattered among the trees. The Shirey Bay-Rainey Brake Wildlife Management Area is a 10,500 acre tract between the Strawberry and Black Rivers and is managed primarily for water fowl. It also has excellent fishing. Thirty-one of the state's present counties were carved from the original Lawrence County. The original courthouse was at Powhatan and was destroyed by fire in 1885. The archives were saved because they were stored in a stone vault and today they are a part of the Powhatan State Park Museum's regional archive. In 1963 the two districts at Powhatan and Walnut Ridge were consolidated. Some of the oldest records in Arkansas that were written by quill with homemade ink is now stored at the abandoned 1888 courthouse in Powhatan.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Randolph County
East: Greene County
Southeast: Craighead County
South: Jackson County
Southwest: Independence County
Northwest: Sharp County

Cities and Towns:

- Alicia	town	Incorporated Area
- Black Rock	city	Incorporated Area
- College City	town	Incorporated Area
- Hoxie	city	Incorporated Area
- Imboden	town	Incorporated Area
- Lynn	town	Incorporated Area
- Minturn	town	Incorporated Area
- Portia	town	Incorporated Area
- Powhatan	town	Incorporated Area
- Ravenden	town	Incorporated Area
- Sedgwick	town	Incorporated Area
- Smithville	town	Incorporated Area
- Strawberry	town	Incorporated Area
- Walnut Ridge (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."