Izard

Formed October 27, 1825 (12^th county)

Izard County (13,574), Melbourne (1,833), Horseshoe Bend (2,432)

The masonry structure of the county courthouse was built in 1936.  It is located on a square at Court, Lunen, Main, and Spring streets in this mountain city.  Main Street is Arkansas State Highway 69.  Melbourne had another courthouse built in 1913.  Erhart and Eichenbaum designed this Art Deco style courthouse.  An Annex has been added.  Liberty (1825), Athens (1830), Mount Olive (1836), Mount Vernon (1846), and Melbourne (1875) have all been county seats.  Territorial Governor George Izard was the namesake for the county.  The county seat was named for Melbourne, Australia.  Izard County was carved from Independence and Crawford counties on October 27, 1825 as the 12^th county. 

Izard County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive).  It has 9 Quorum Court members (legislative.)  Four Circuit Court Judges serve Izard, Cleburne, Fulton, Independence, and Stone counties and a District Court Judge, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Izard County (judicial.)  The county is in north central Arkansas.  Jonesboro, Arkansas is east and Little Rock, Arkansas is south of the county.  The Buffalo River is the western border.  The center of the county is 8.3 miles North of Melbourne nearer Brockwell.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Fulton, Sharp, Independence, Stone, and Baxter counties.  The county is shaped like homeplate on the baseball field.  Melbourne is near the geographical center of the county.  Horseshoe Bend is located in the extreme northeast corner of the county and extends into Fulton and Sharp counties.  Melbourne is the county seat and Horseshoe Bend is the largest city.  Melbourne is 13.5% of the county population while Horseshoe Bend is 17.9% of the county population.  The county is pronounced IS-URD.  The county seat is pronounced MEL-BURN.

The area of the county is 584.0 square miles.  It is 67 of 75 in size.  It ranks 52 out of 75 in population in the state.  It has a density of 23.2 persons per square mile making it 43 out of 75 in the state.  Izard County has 53.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county.