Nashville, Arkansas
Nashville, Arkansas | |
|---|---|
 Location in Howard County and the state of Arkansas | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Arkansas |
| County | Howard |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Mike Reese |
| Area | |
| • Total | 4.6 sq mi (11.9 km2) |
| • Land | 4.6 sq mi (11.8 km2) |
| • Water | 0.04 sq mi (0.1 km2) |
| Elevation | 383 ft (116 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 4,878 |
| • Density | 39/sq mi (442.2/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP codes | 71852 |
| Area code | 870 |
| FIPS code | 05-48560 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0077792 |
| Website | http://www.nashvillear.com/ |
Nashville is a city in Howard County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 4,878 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Howard CountyTemplate:GR.
Nashville is situated at the base of the Ouachita foothills and was once a major center of the peach trade in southwest Arkansas. Today the land is mostly given over to cattle and chicken farming. The world's largest dinosaur trackway was discovered near the town in 1983. Nashville is also home to the Elberta Arts Center.
Geography
Nashville is located at 33°56′31″N 93°50′53″W / 33.94194°N 93.84806°WInvalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (33.942079, -93.847958)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.6 square miles (11.9 km²), of which, 4.6 square miles (11.8 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.87%) is water.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 4,878 people, 1,857 households, and 1,179 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,067.7 people per square mile (412.1/km²). There were 2,136 housing units at an average density of 467.5/sq mi (180.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 59.96% White, 33.21% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 1.23% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 4.39% from other races, and 0.94% from two or more races. 6.99% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 1,857 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.6% were married couples living together, 18.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.12.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 19.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $23,480, and the median income for a family was $28,611. Males had a median income of $24,494 versus $17,480 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,258. About 18.7% of families and 21.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.4% of those under age 18 and 16.3% of those age 65 or over.
History
Michael Womack (reputed to have killed the British General Edward Packenham in 1815 during the War of 1812) settled in the area along Mine Creek in 1849. When the town was first established, it was known as "Hell's Valley".[1] When it was incorporated its name had already been changed to Nashville.[2]Womack is attributed with the name change and named it "Nashville" after Nashville, Tennessee. The name change did not take effect until 1856.
Center Point was the first county seat of Howard county until 1884 when it was moved to Nashville.[3]
The city once boasted three railroads, a Missouri Pacific branch from Nashville, the Memphis Paris and Gulf (MP&G) which later became the Memphis Dallas and Gulf running from Ashdown, Arkansas, to Hot Springs, Arkansas, and headquartered in Nashville. The MP&G was broken up in 1922 forming the Graysonia Nashville and Ashdown (GN&A) running from Nashville to Ashdown and the Murfreesboro Nashville Southwestern (MNSW) from Nashville to Murfreesboro, Arkansas. The MNSW later became the Murfreesboro-Nashville railroad which folded in 1952. The GN&A was sold to the Kansas City Southern in the early 2000s
William T. Dillard, founder of Dillard's, opened his first department store in Nashville.[4] He started his successful franchise in 1938 when, with $8,000 borrowed from his father, he opened a small store in his wife's hometown of Nashville. Aside from a short period during World War II, the Dillard Company continued operating and expanding its Nashville location. In 1948, Dillard, looking for more growth prospects, sold the Nashville store and used the money, along with some outside financing, to buy controlling interest in a Texarkana (AR,TX) store.[5]
The peach industry came to the Nashville area in the late nineteenth century. Peak years of production lasted from the 1920's onward until 1952 and 1953 when as late freezes followed early warm spells. Two-thirds of the crops were destroyed, and production sank to 150,000 bushels, hurting both producers and brokers. The area never fully recovered though many small peach orchards remain in the [6]
The largest find of dinosaur trackways in the world was discovered by SMU archaeology graduate student Brad Pittman in a quarry north of the town in 1983, the site of a prehistoric beach.[7][8][9]. A field of 5-10,000 sauropod footprints were found in a mudstone layer covering a layer of gypsum.[10] Casts 65 feet (20 m) long and 7 feet (2.1 m) wide were made and put on permanent display, first at the courthouse and finally at the Nashville City Park, while many of the original tracks were disbursed to local museums such as the Mid-America Museum in Hot Springs, Arkansas and the Arkansas Museum of Discovery in Little Rock. The full extent of the trackway was never excavated.
Historical Buildings
The National Register of Historical Places lists several entries of significant historical value from Nashville[11]. Among them:
- The First Christian Church building, built in the Late Gothic Revival style in the early 20th century, is still an active church.
- The First Presbyterian Church building, built in the Eastlake style in the early 1900s, is currently the Howard County Museum.
- Garrett Whiteside Hall is all that remains of the Nashville High School complex built in the 1930s. It is used for storage and special activities by the local school district.
- Elbert W. Holt House, and Flavius Holt House, Colonial Revival structures, are still used as private residences.
- Howard County Courthouse is one of the few public buildings in Arkansas built in the Moderne style.
Notable natives
- Trevor Bardette - actor who appeared in episodes of Adventures of Superman.
- Bobby Harwell - actor in works such as Picket Fences, Artificial Intelligence: A.I., and Stealing Harvard
References
- ^ Arkansas Historical Quarterly Hell's Valley, Nashville, 13:265
- ^ http://www.womacknet.com/features/michaelwomack.html Genealogy of Michael Womack
- ^ http://www.arkansasheritage.com/life_times/counties/d_j.asp#howard
- ^ The Chicago Sun-Times obituary 10 Feb 2002 (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20020210/ai_n12452413/print)
- ^ http://investor.shareholder.com/dillards/history.cfm
- ^ http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2099
- ^ "Nashville's Sauropod Trackway" (http://users.aristotle.net/~russjohn/monsters/ms9.html)
- ^ Pittman, Jeffrey G. and David D. Gillett, "Tracking the Arkansas Dinosaurs," The Arkansas Naturalist, (March 1984) v. 2 no. 3, pp 1-12.
- ^ Pittman, Jeffrey, Transactions of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies, vol. XXXIV (1984), pp. 202-209
- ^ "Geologists to Make Casts of Rare Dinosaur Prints," Arkansas Gazette, January 1, 1984; sec. B, p. 8, col. 5.
- ^ http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/AR/Howard/state.html