50 Fun Facts About Arkansas

The name Arkansas comes from a French rendering of a word for which Native American people?

The French spelled the Algonquian name for the Quapaw, akansa, as Arkansas; the Quapaw, a Dhegiha Siouan people, lived near the mouth of the Arkansas River when Europeans arrived.

How did the Arkansas legislature officially rule the state's name should be pronounced in 1881?

The 1881 resolution fixed the pronunciation as Arkansaw, with the final "s" silent, calling the Ar-KAN-zas version an innovation to be discouraged; a 2007 resolution set the possessive as Arkansas's.

Arkansas joined the Union on June 15, 1836, as which number state?

Arkansas became the 25th state on 15 June 1836, paired with free-state Michigan to keep the Senate balance; it was the 13th slave state, with about 60,000 residents.

Which Spanish explorer crossed the Mississippi into Arkansas in 1541?

Hernando de Soto's expedition crossed the Mississippi in June 1541 and spent months in Arkansas; after he died of fever in May 1542, his men sank his body in the river to hide his mortality from the locals.

What was the first European settlement in the future state, founded by Henri de Tonti in 1686?

Arkansas Post, set up by Henri de Tonti in 1686 near the Arkansas River's mouth, was the Arkansas Territory's first capital until 1821 and saw the state's only Revolutionary War action, an April 1783 raid.

Which country sold Arkansas to the United States in 1803?

France sold the whole Louisiana Purchase territory, Arkansas included, to the United States in 1803 for about $15 million, three years after Spain had handed Louisiana back to Napoleon.

After Little Rock fell in 1863, Arkansas's Confederate government spent the rest of the war in which town?

Washington, in Hempstead County, served as the Confederate state capital from 1863 to 1865 after an earlier brief move to Hot Springs in 1862; the old town is preserved as Historic Washington State Park.

Which president ended the 1874 Brooks-Baxter War by ordering Brooks's militia dispersed?

Ulysses S. Grant's proclamation of 15 May 1874 recognised Elisha Baxter as governor and ordered Joseph Brooks's forces to disperse; the 1874 constitution that followed effectively ended Reconstruction in Arkansas.

Which Ozark resort town, famed for the 1886 Crescent Hotel, boomed on its healing springs?

Eureka Springs, founded in 1879 around springs believed to cure illness, briefly ranked among Arkansas's largest cities in the 1880s; the 1886 Crescent Hotel and the 1966 Christ of the Ozarks statue stand there.

The 1919 Elaine massacre began when whites attacked Black sharecroppers organizing what?

The sharecroppers were organising a farmers' union, the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America, to win fair cotton payments; estimates of Black residents killed range from dozens to over 200, and Governor Charles Brough accompanied the troops.

Roughly how many Japanese Americans were held at Arkansas' Rohwer and Jerome camps?

About 16,000 Japanese Americans passed through the two camps; Rohwer in Desha County peaked at 8,475 people and operated until November 1945, while Jerome closed in June 1944.

Which governor used the National Guard to block nine Black students from Little Rock Central High in 1957?

Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to turn the students away on 4 September 1957; Eisenhower federalised the Guard and sent Army troops three weeks later to escort the Little Rock Nine in.

Which Army division did Eisenhower send to escort the Little Rock Nine into Central High in September 1957?

The 101st Airborne Division's troops escorted the Little Rock Nine into Central High on 25 September 1957 and stayed for weeks; Ernest Green became the school's first Black graduate in May 1958.

Which state does NOT border Arkansas?

Six states touch it: Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma; the Mississippi River forms most of the eastern line.

Arkansas's highest point, at 2,753 feet, is which flat-topped mountain in the Ouachitas?

Mount Magazine's Signal Hill, at 2,753 feet, is the highest point in Arkansas; the flat-topped mountain's other summit is Mossback Ridge, and it sits within Mount Magazine State Park.

Which two mountain ranges make up the US Interior Highlands, between the Rockies and Appalachians?

The Arkansas River divides the two ranges, with the Ozark Plateau to the north and the Ouachitas to the south.

Crowley's Ridge is the only place in Arkansas where which tree grows naturally?

The tulip tree, or yellow poplar, grows naturally in Arkansas only on Crowley's Ridge, whose loess soils carry an Appalachian-style forest of beech and oak rather than the Delta's bottomland species.

Which 40-carat diamond turned up near Murfreesboro, Arkansas, in 1924?

The Uncle Sam, a 40.23-carat white diamond found at the Murfreesboro pipe in 1924, is the largest diamond ever unearthed in the United States; it was later cut to a 12.42-carat emerald-cut gem.

Who found Arkansas's first diamonds on his farm near Murfreesboro in 1906?

John Wesley Huddleston, a farmer nicknamed 'Diamond John', picked up the first two diamonds on his land in August 1906 and sold the property for $36,000 as thousands of prospectors poured in.

Hot Springs Reservation, created by Congress in 1832, is notable as what?

Hot Springs Reservation of 1832 was the first federal land reserved for recreation, 40 years before Yellowstone; it became a national park in 1921 and got the first America the Beautiful quarter in 2010.

Which gangster kept a regular suite at Hot Springs' Arlington Hotel in the 1920s?

Al Capone was a regular at Hot Springs in the 1920s, staying in suite 443 of the Arlington Hotel and playing the Southern Club's tables; the town's illegal casinos ran openly until a 1967 crackdown.

Which Arkansas waterway became the first National River in the United States in 1972?

The Buffalo River was designated the first national river on 1 March 1972, ending repeated Army Corps of Engineers plans to dam it; its 135 protected free-flowing miles run through the Ozarks.

Arkansas is the nation's largest producer of which grain?

Arkansas grows roughly half of the rice produced in the United States, mostly on the Grand Prairie and Delta of its eastern counties, and has ranked first among rice states since the 1970s.

Which Grand Prairie town calls itself the Rice and Duck Capital of the World?

Stuttgart, founded by German settlers in 1878 and named for the German city, sits on the Grand Prairie under the Mississippi Flyway and hosts the World's Championship Duck Calling Contest each November.

Arkansas's official nickname, "The Natural State", was created in the 1970s for what purpose?

The Department of Parks and Tourism coined 'The Natural State' in the 1970s for tourism advertising, replacing 'Land of Opportunity'; the legislature made it the official nickname in 1995.

Which retailer, founded in Arkansas in 1962, has its headquarters in Bentonville?

Walmart grew from Sam Walton's first discount store, opened in 1962, into a company with annual revenue past $600 billion, run from its headquarters in Bentonville.

In which Arkansas town did Sam Walton open the very first Wal-Mart Discount City on July 2, 1962?

Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers on 2 July 1962; he had run a five-and-dime on the Bentonville square since 1950 after an earlier variety store elsewhere in Arkansas.

In which Arkansas town did Sam Walton buy his first store, a Ben Franklin franchise, after WWII?

Sam Walton bought the Ben Franklin variety store in Newport in 1945 with a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law and $5,000 saved from Army pay, then lost the lease in 1950 and moved to Bentonville.

Which meat-processing giant is headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas?

Tyson Foods, started by John W. Tyson hauling chickens out of Springdale in the 1930s, owns the Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm and Ball Park brands and is headquartered in Springdale.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville was founded by which retail heiress?

Alice Walton, Sam Walton's daughter, founded Crystal Bridges, which opened on 11 November 2011 in Moshe Safdie-designed pavilions set in Ozark forest; a Walmart endowment keeps general admission free.

Bill Clinton was born in 1946 in which Arkansas town?

Bill Clinton was born in Hope on 19 August 1946 as William Jefferson Blythe III; Mike Huckabee, another Arkansas governor, was born in Hope nine years later.

Bill Clinton's overlong speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention nominated which candidate?

Clinton's 33-minute nominating speech for Michael Dukakis drew cheers when he said 'in conclusion'; some journalists thought it had wrecked his ambitions, yet four years later he won the presidency with 43% of the vote.

Which Arkansas senator was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, in 1932?

Hattie Caraway, appointed to her late husband's seat in 1931, won the January 1932 special election and then a full term that November with campaigning help from Louisiana's Huey Long.

Johnny Cash was born to cotton-farming parents in which tiny Arkansas community?

Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Cleveland County, on 26 February 1932; in 1935 the family moved to the New Deal farm colony at Dyess, where he grew up picking cotton and singing gospel.

Which Maya Angelou memoir is set largely in Stamps, Arkansas, where she lived with her grandmother from age three?

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) recounts Angelou's childhood in Stamps, where her grandmother Annie Henderson ran the general store, and her later years in St. Louis and San Francisco.

Which soul singer was born in Forrest City, Arkansas, in 1946?

Al Green was born in Forrest City on 13 April 1946, the sixth of ten children of a sharecropper, and moved with his family to Grand Rapids, Michigan, as a boy; 'Let's Stay Together' topped the Hot 100 in 1972.

Which Oscar-winning actor was born in Hot Springs in 1955?

Billy Bob Thornton was born in Hot Springs on 4 August 1955 to a history-teacher father and a self-described psychic mother; he won the 1997 Oscar for the Sling Blade screenplay.

Which five-star general was born at Little Rock Barracks in 1880?

Douglas MacArthur was born at the Little Rock Barracks on 26 January 1880, where his father Arthur was posted; the Tower Building of the old arsenal houses the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.

Bass Reeves, born into slavery in Crawford County, Arkansas, in 1838, became famous as what?

Bass Reeves, commissioned in 1875 by the federal court at Fort Smith, was one of the first Black deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi; he made more than 3,000 arrests and spoke several Native languages.

Isaac Parker, who ran Fort Smith's federal court from 1875 to 1896, had what nickname?

Isaac Parker, 'the Hanging Judge', sentenced 160 people to death in 21 years at Fort Smith, of whom 79 were hanged; his courtroom is preserved at Fort Smith National Historic Site.

Arkansas's 1909 win over which rival prompted the 'wild band of razorback hogs' nickname?

Coach Hugo Bezdek said his team had played 'like a wild band of razorback hogs' after beating LSU 16-0 in 1909; the students voted to drop the Cardinals name for the Razorbacks in 1910.

Arkansas left which conference to join the SEC in the early 1990s?

Arkansas had belonged to the Southwest Conference since 1915; it accepted the SEC's invitation in 1990 and began SEC competition in the 1991-92 season, leaving its old Texas rivals behind.

How many stars appear on the Arkansas state flag in total?

The flag's 29 stars combine 25 white stars in the blue border, for Arkansas being the 25th state, with four blue stars inside the white diamond: three for Spain, France and the United States, one for the Confederacy.

Which state symbol is Arkansas's oldest, designated in 1901?

The apple blossom became the state flower in 1901, when Arkansas was a leading apple grower, making it the oldest official state symbol; the state bird (1929) and the pine tree (1939) came later.

Which state bird does Arkansas share with Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas?

The northern mockingbird became Arkansas's state bird in 1929; South Carolina also had it until switching to the Carolina wren in 1948.

Which cooking pot did Arkansas name its official state cooking vessel in 2001?

The Dutch oven, the lidded cast-iron pot of frontier cooking, became Arkansas's official cooking vessel in 2001; Utah and Texas honour the same pot, and Arkansas also has an official state knife, the Bowie.

Which species became Arkansas's official state butterfly in 2007?

The Diana fritillary, a large butterfly of the Ozark and Ouachita forests whose males are orange and black and females blue and black, became the state butterfly in 2007; Arkansas is the only state to choose it.

Which insect did Arkansas adopt as its official state insect in 1973?

The honeybee became Arkansas's state insect in 1973, a choice shared with more than a dozen states and a nod to the state's beekeeping and fruit-growing traditions.

Which building in Texarkana sits directly on the Arkansas-Texas state line?

The Texarkana federal building, home to the post office and the federal courthouse, straddles the Arkansas-Texas line with State Line Avenue running to its front steps; it is the only US federal building in two states.

Which state park protects Arkansas's tallest surviving prehistoric mounds, once misattributed to the Toltecs?

Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park, renamed from Toltec Mounds in 2022, protects an 18-mound complex on an Arkansas River oxbow lake that was occupied from about 650 to 1050 CE.