Randolph County, Arkansas: History and Information

Randolph County, Arkansas

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

County Seat: Pocahontas
Year Organized: 1835
Square Miles: 652

Court House:

107 West Broadway Street
County Courthouse
Pocahontas, AR 72455-3406

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Randolph is named for John Randolph of Roanoke, a U.S. congressman from Virginia. John Randolph (June 2, 1773 – May 24, 1833), known as John Randolph of Roanoke, was a leader in Congress from Virginia and spokesman for the "Old Republican" or "Quids" faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that wanted to restrict the federal government's roles.

Demographics:

History

Formed on October 29, 1835, by the last Territorial Legislature from part of Lawrence County, in which Randolph County was named after John Randolph, a Virginia statesman who claimed to be a descendant of the famous Indian Princess Pocahontas. The county seat is Pocahontas. The landscape of the county is Ozark Mountain foothills with the rich, delta farmland in the extreme southeast. It is said that Randolph County stands with one foot in the hills and one in the rich soil of the delta. The economic base of the county is agricultural with soybeans and grains the principal crops in the delta and cattle ranching in the hill country. Small manufacturers have also added to the economy. Five rivers crisscross through the county, the spring, Black, Current, Fourche, and Eleven Point that makes good fishing and water recreation. Old Davidsonville State Park features the site of Arkansas' first post office (1817), and first federal land office (1820), and first courthouse (1815). The Randolph County courthouse is Victorian, Italianate architecture and has a large aluminum seal of the State of Arkansas over the main entry door behind large square fluted concrete columns. The foyer, which runs across the front of the building, contains three large oil paintings depicting aspects of Arkansas history: one is of Indians, another of the Civil War, and the third, which shows road building, includes an old Studebaker wagon. This courthouse faces a sunken garden with benches, landscaped shrubs, and several lampposts for night illumination. Approached by means of imposing steps forty-eight feet wide, the garden dramatizes the view of the hill on which the original 1872 courthouse still stands.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Ripley County, Mo.

East: Clay County

Southeast: Greene County

South: Lawrence County

Southwest: Sharp County

Northwest: Oregon County, Mo.

Cities and Towns:

- Biggers

town

Incorporated Area

- Maynard

town

Incorporated Area

- O'Kean

town

Incorporated Area

- Pocahontas (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

- Ravenden Springs

town

Incorporated Area

- Reyno

town

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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Arkansas Counties

Randolph County, Arkansas

Randolph 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