Arkansas

Formed December 13, 1813 (1^st county)

Arkansas County (17,150), De Witt (3,052), Stuttgart (8,269)

Arkansas County is one of the Arkansas counties with two courthouses.  The De Witt 1932 courthouse is a light brick and concrete one.  It is located two blocks north and four blocks east of the intersection of Arkansas State Highways 130 and 152.  North Main Street turns into Courthouse Square at East Cross Street where the building is located.  The De Witt courthouse was designed by H. Ray Burks in Art Deco style.  An addition was added in 1971.  The Stuttgart facility is red brick and located at 3^rd Street at College Street.  United States Highway Business 79 is one block west of the site.  It was built in 1939.  The Stuttgart facility was designed by J. B. Barrett in Classical Revival style.  There have been two courthouses in De Witt (1891) and two in Stuttgart.  The Arkansas Post was the first county seat until 1855 when it moved to De Witt with Stuttgart being added in 1928.  The Arkansas River was the source for the county’s name.  Arkansas is a variance of the Quapaw Native Americans, which means “downstream people.”  The county seat of Desha County also gets its name from the river.  Stuttgart received its name from the city in Germany.  De Witt was named after New York’s Governor De Witt Clinton.  He is also the name source for the county seat of Van Buren County.  Arkansas County is the 1^st county created on December 13, 1813. 

Arkansas County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive).  It has 9 Quorum Court members (legislative.)  One Circuit Court Judge and Two District Court Judges, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Arkansas County (judicial.)  The county is situated in southeast Arkansas just east of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  The Arkansas River forms into southern border and the White River is its eastern border.  The center of the county is 7.1 miles Southeast of De Witt.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Prairie, Monroe, Phillips, Desha, Lincoln, Jefferson, and Lonoke counties.  The county is overall shaped like home plate on a baseball field (five sided).  De Witt is near the center of county.  Stuttgart is in the northwest corner of the county.  De Witt is a county seat while Stuttgart is also a county seat and it is the largest city.  De Witt is 17.8% of the county population and Stuttgart is 48.2% of the county population.  The county is pronounced AR-KAN-SAW.  The county seats are pronounced DEE-WIT and STUT-GART.

The area of the county is 1038 square miles.  It is 3 of 75 in size.  It ranks 41 out of 75 in population in the state.  It has a density of 16.6 persons per square mile making it 58 out of 75 in the state.  Arkansas County has 73.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 79 cuts the northwest corner of the county from Prairie County, north, to Jefferson County, west.  United States Highway 165 zigzags from northwest to south, Lonoke County to Desha County.