Searcy

Formed December 13, 1838 (39^th county)

Searcy County (7,831), Marshall (1,332)

The stone 1889 courthouse is located on a square surrounded by Center, Main, Glade, and Nome streets.  Lebanon (1838), Burrowsville (1856), and Marshall (1867) have all had county courthouses.  J. S. Stephenson provided the designs for this Classical Revival courthouse.  The county seat was named for American statesman, John Marshall.  The county seat was named for Richard Searcy, a prominent Arkansas Legislator.  Searcy is also the namesake of the White County seat.  Searcy County was taken from part of Marion County on December 13, 1838 as the 39^th county. 

Searcy County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive).  It has 9 Quorum Court members (legislative.)  Five Circuit Court Judges serve Searcy, Faulkner, and Van Buren counties and a District Court Judge, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Searcy County (judicial.)  The county is situated in north central Arkansas north of Little Rock, Arkansas.  The Buffalo River crosses the northern part of the county.  The center of the county is 7.6 miles Northwest of Marshall.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Marion, Baxter, Stone, Van Buren, Pope, Newton, and Boone counties.  It is overall rectangular with a small chimney on the northwest and a large leg on the southwest.  Marshall is slightly east of center.  Marshall is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 17.0% of the county population.  The county is pronounced SEER-SEE.

The area of the county is 668.5 square miles.  It is 35 of 75 in size.  It ranks 68 out of 75 in population in the state.  It has a density of 11.7 persons per square mile making it 67 out of 75 in the state.  Searcy County has 25.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 65 crosses diagonally from Newton County, northwest, to Van Buren County, south.