A Brief History of Polk County
from the 1871 History of Western Arkansas

On November 5, 1844, James K. Polk, of Tennessee, was elected President of the United States, and on the 30th of the same month Gov. Thomas S. DREW approved an act of the Arkansas Legislature cutting off a large part of Sevier County and erecting it into a county named after the President-elect. It is one of the western tier of counties; bounded on the north by Scott county; on the east by Montgomery; on the south by Howard and Sevier, and on the west by the State of Oklahoma. It has an area of 846 square miles and an average elevation of 1,300 feet, drained by the Cossitot and Ouachita rivers, both of which rise in the county.

The act creating the county fixed the temporary county seat at the house of John PIRTLE, where there was a post office called Panther. The permanent county seat was located near the southwest corner of Township 2 south, Range 30 west, and was named Dallas, for the Vice President of the United States. Subsequently it was removed to a site a short distance north and the name was changed to Mena.

Polk is divided into seventeen townships, viz: Big Fork, Center, Cedar, Cove, Eagle, Eagle Gap, Faulkner, Freedom, Fulton, Gap Springs, Mill Creek, Mountain, Ouachita, Ozark, Potter, Rich Mountain and White. A large part of the county is in the Arkansas National Forest.

Neighboring Counties

Scott, Montgomery, Pike, Sevier, McCurtain Co., OK, LeFlore Co., OK

Welcome to Polk County.

Thanks to the Polk County Genealogy Society
for Sharing Genealogical Information!

Last updated 25 Jan 2021