Pope

Formed November 2, 1829 (20^th county)

Pope County (63,385), Russellville (28,940)                

The governmental tan brick and concrete courthouse was built in 1932 at the corner of Main and Arkansas streets.  Its site is on United States Highway 64.  H. Ray Burk is the architect for this Art Deco style courthouse.  The building was remodeled in 1994.  An 1882 courthouse was also located in Russellville.  Arkansas River (1829), Norristown (1830), Dover (1840), and Russellville (1888) have all been county seats.  The county gets its name from Territorial Governor John Pope.  Russellville was named for local resident, Dr. T. J. Russell.  Pope County was created on November 2, 1829 from a part of Crawford County as the 20^th county. 

Pope County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive).  It has 13 Quorum Court members (legislative.)  Four Circuit Court Judges serve Pope, Franklin, and Johnson counties and a District Court Judge, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Pope County (judicial.)  The county is in central Arkansas northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas.  The Arkansas River is its southern border.  The center of the county is 17.4 miles North-Northeast of Russellville nearer Hector.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Searcy, Van Buren, Conway, Yell, Logan, Johnson, and Newton counties.  The county is shaped like a shoe with the southern border inclining from east to west.  Russellville is in the extreme south of the county on the river.  Russellville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 45.7% of the county population.  

The area of the county is 830.8 square miles.  It is 15 of 75 in size.  It ranks 12 out of 75 in population in the state.  It has a density of 76.3 persons per square mile making it 13 out of 75 in the state.  Pope County has 59.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 40 comes from the east (Conway County) and goes to the west (Johnson County).  United States Highway 64 parallels Interstate Highway 40 from Conway County to Johnson County.  The county is in the Russellville Micropolitan Statistical Area.