Phillips County, Arkansas: History and Information

Phillips County, Arkansas

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

County Seat: Helena
Year Organized: 1820
Square Miles: 693

Court House:

600 Cherry Street
County Courthouse
Helena, AR 72342-3306

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Phillips is named for Sylvanus Phillips, a member of the territorial legislature.

Demographics:

History

Created on May 1, 1820, by the Territorial Legislature, and was named after Sylvanus Phillips, the area's first-known white settler and representative to the first Territorial Legislature. The county seat is Helena. The landscape of Phillips County is rich, flat, Delta farmland. The Mississippi River forms the eastern boundary. Agriculture and agricultural chemicals have formed the basis of Phillips County's economy along with sporting and recreation on its many lakes and waterways. St. Francis National Forest, the smallest of the national forests, is a semi-tropical haven for countless species of wildlife and vegetation. White River National Wildlife Refuge contains ox-bow lakes deposited by the White River and has some of the finest bass-fishing waters to be found. The refuge is home to some 227 species of non-game birds, 48 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 30 species of mammals. Phillips is an old county with rich heritage. Nearly two dozen sites in the county are on the National Register of Historical Places. Phillips County Courthouse is a stately old building. At the northwest corner of the two-story building is a bronze statue of a World War I doughboy with a fixed bayonet standing in the middle of the intersection of the adjoining redbrick paved streets. The Courthouse stands just inside the levee of the Mississippi River, and a U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey benchmark located at the northwest corner of the building shows that the elevation of the small courtyard in the fertile delta is 189.55 feet above sea level.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Lee County

Northeast: Tunica County, Miss.

Southeast: Coahoma County, Miss.

South: Bolivar County, Miss.

Southwest: Desha County; Arkansas County

Northwest: Monroe County

Cities and Towns:

- Elaine

city

Incorporated Area

- Helena (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

- Lexa

city

Incorporated Area

- Marvell

city

Incorporated Area

- West Helena

city

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our 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."

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Phillips County, Arkansas

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

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Demographics:

History

Neighboring Counties:

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

County Resource Guide