Formed October 15, 1823 (9th county)
Chicot County (10,212), Lake Village (2,070), Dermott (2,650)
The governmental courthouse of Chicot County was built in 1956. It is located on Main Street at Lakeshore Drive. It is eight blocks east of United States Highway 65. Herbert Voelcker designed the Art Deco style courthouse. Two courthouses have been in Lake Village, one in 1907 and the current one. Four towns have served as county seat for Chicot County since its formation on October 15, 1823 when the county extended from the Mississippi River to the Ouachita and Saline rivers as the 9th county. Villemont (1828), Columbia (1838), Masona (Chicot) (1855), and Lake Village (1857) have all been the seat of the county. The county was originally part of Arkansas County. The county was named for Point Chicot, a location on the Mississippi River. French explorer La Salle called the area Isles de Chicot or “Island of Stumps” for the stumpy swamp of the area. Lake Village is named for its geographical location on Lake Chicot.
Chicot County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive). It has 9 Quorum Court members (legislative.) Five Circuit Court Judges serve Chicot, Ashley, Bradley, Desha, and Drew counties and Two District Court Judges, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Chicot County (judicial.) The county is in the far southeast corner of the state on the border with both Mississippi and Louisiana. El Dorado, Arkansas is West and Jackson, Mississippi is Southeast of the county. The Mississippi River is its eastern border. The center of the county is 1 mile North-Northwest of Lake Village. The county is surrounded clockwise by Desha County and Mississippi and Louisiana and Ashley and Drew counties. The county has three straight line-borders on the north, west, and south. However, the meandering Mississippi makes a snake out of the eastern border. Lake Village is slightly north of the county center. Lake Village is the county seat and Dermott is the largest city. Lake Village is 20.3% of the county population. Dermott is 26.0% of the county population. The county is pronounced CHEE-KOE.
The area of the county is 690.9 square miles. It is 32 of 75 in size. It ranks 60 out of 75 in population in the state. It has a density of 14.8 persons per square mile making it 61 out of 75 in the state. Chicot County has 63.1% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 65 comes in from the north, Desha County, and goes to the south, Louisiana. United States Highway 82 enters from Mississippi to the east and travels west into Ashley County. United States Highway 165 is joined with United States Highway 65 from Desha County but it quickly turns to the west and goes into Drew County.
Dermott
Eudora
Lake Village
