Garland

Formed April 5, 1873 (67^th county)

Garland County (100,172), Hot Springs (37,934)

The stately masonry and concrete courthouse serves Garland County.  Built in 1905, it is located at Ouachita Avenue and Hawthorne Street.  W. R. Parsons and Sons are the architects of this Classical Revival courthouse.  The building was rebuilt in 1913 following a fire.  An annex was added in 1974 and the building was remodeled in 1978.  The site is two blocks northwest of the intersection of United States Highway 70 and Arkansas State Highway 7.  A Government Office Building was added in 1996 and a Courts Building has been added recently.  Governor and United States Senator Augustus H. Garland is the namesake for the county.  Hot Springs’s name origin is for the nearby springs.  Hot Spring County gets its name from another source.  Garland County was created from Hot Spring, Montgomery, and Saline counties on April 5, 1873 as the 67^th county.  Hot Springs has been the county seat since formation. 

Garland County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive).  It has 13 Quorum Court members (legislative.)  Four Circuit Court Judges and Two District Court Judges, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Garland County (judicial.)  The county is in west central Arkansas.  Little Rock is Northeast and Fort Smith is Northwest of the county.  The center of the county is 13.4 miles Northwest of Hot Springs nearer Mountain Pine.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Perry, Saline, Hot Spring, Montgomery, and Yell counties.  Hot Springs is south of the center of the county.  Hot Springs is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 37.9% of the county population.  The county is in the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The area of the county is 734.6 square miles.  It is 26 of 75 in size.  It ranks 8 out of 75 in population in the state.  It has a density of 136.4 persons per square mile making it 8 out of 75 in the state.  Garland County has 39.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 70 crosses from east to west from Saline County and going into Montgomery County.  United States Highway 270 also crosses east to west, Hot Spring County to Montgomery County.  The county is shaped like a rectangle with a two-step barrel extending to the east.  The Ouachita River crosses west to east through the county. 

Mountain Pine