Forrest City is the county seat of St. Francis County, Arkansas. On October 13, 1827, St. Francis County, located in the east central part of Arkansas, was officially organized by the Arkansas Territorial Legislature in Little Rock. Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest became interested in the area around Crowley’s Ridge during the Civil War. In 1866 General Forrest and C. C. McCreanor contracted to finish the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad from Madison located on the St. Francis River to DeValls Bluff on the west bank of the White River. The route traversed the challenging Crowley’s Ridge and L’Anguille River bottoms. The first trains came through in 1868. General Forrest later built a commissary on Front Street. Colonel V.B. Izard began the task of designing the town at the same time. Most residents were calling the area Forrest’s Town, later to be known as Forrest City, incorporated May 11, 1870 (Wikipedia, 2019).
Citations
Pollard, Bill. (2013-2014). Forrest City Union Station. Retrieved from arkansasrailroadhistory.com.
Wikipedia. (2019, Aug. 2). Forrest City, Arkansas. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org.
How it all Began 