Formed December 5, 1840 (40th county)
Yell County (20,259), Danville (2,024), Dardanelle (4,516)
Two courthouses serve Yell County. Danville has a modern tan brick structure. Danville’s courthouse was built in 1975 in Modern style. It is located on Main Street between 4th and 5th streets. Main Street is Arkansas State Highway 10 passing through the city. Renshaw and Taylor are the designers of the Danville courthouse. Danville had an 1873 version of its courthouse. Dardanelle’s is a red brick columnar stately building. It was built in 1914 on Union Street between Front and 2nd Streets. Union Street is Arkansas State Highway 7. Frank W. Gibb designed the Dardanelle Greek Revival courthouse. An addition has been added to the Dardanelle structure in 2006. Danville was the original county seat beginning in 1840 with Dardanelle being added in 1875. Yell County gets its name for Governor Archibald Yell. Yell also provided his name to Yellville, county seat of Marion County. Danville is named for a local steamship. Dardanelle is reported to be for landowner, Jean Baptiste Dardenne. On December 5, 1840 land was taken from Hot Spring, Pope, and Scott counties to form Yell County as the 40th county.
Yell County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive). It has 11 Quorum Court members (legislative.) Three Circuit Court Judges serve Yell, Conway, Logan, and Scott counties and Two District Court Judges, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Yell County (judicial.) Yell County government consists of a County Judge, a sheriff, and 15 Justices of the Peace. serve Yell County. West central Arkansas is the home of Yell County. Little Rock is East and Fort Smith is Northwest of the county. The Arkansas River forms the northern border of the county. The center of the county is 4.1 miles Northeast of Danville. The county is surrounded clockwise by Pope, Conway, Perry, Garland, Montgomery, Scott, and Logan counties. A sloping hook is the overall county shape. Danville is near to the center. Dardanelle is in the extreme northeast on the river. Danville is one of the county seats. Dardanelle is the other county seat and the largest city. Danville is 10.0% of the county population while Dardanelle is 22.3% of the county population. One county seat is pronounced DAR-DA-NEL.
The area of the county is 948.8 square miles. It is 5 of 75 in size. It ranks 33 out of 75 in population in the state. It has a density of 21.4 persons per square mile making it 50 out of 75 in the state. Yell County has 42.2% of its population in its incorporated areas. There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county. The county is in the Russellville Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Belleville
Corinth
Danville
Dardanelle
Havana
Ola
Plainview
