AACFAMILY & FRIENDS
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1. Carroll 2. Clay 3. Sebastian 4. Franklin 5. Logan 6.
Yell
7. Craighead 8. Mississippi 9. Prairie 10. Arkansas
Past, future of dual-seat counties in Arkansas
By Jay Barth and Barrett Goodwin For County Lines
as a center of county government. Across the 3000-plus counties and county equivalents in the United States, only 28 have two county seats. Arkansas and Mississippi contain the majority of dual county seats across America, those from outside the state often are curious about the origins of the practice. In total, 10 Arkansas counties are described as having two county seats. However, in recent years, legal questions have arisen about the legitimacy of nine of them. As a result, the next few years may produce
O
County Arkansas Carroll Clay
Craighead Franklin Logan
Mississippi Prairie
Sebastian Yell
Seats (Creation Date)
DeWitt (1855) Stuttgart (≈1928)
Berryville (1875) Eureka Springs (1883)
Corning (1881) Piggott (1891)
Jonesboro (1859) Lake City (1883)
Ozark (1838) Charleston (1901)
Paris (1873) Booneville (1901)
Osceola (1833) Blytheville (1901)
DeValls Bluff (1873) Des Arc (1877)
Greenwood (1851) Fort Smith (1861)
Danville (c. 1844) Dardanelle (1875)
COUNTY LINES, SUMMER 2016
ne quirk of local government in Arkansas is the significant number of “dual county seats,” that is two communities in the county that have a courthouse and are seen
more conversations — in legal proceedings and coffee shops — about the somewhat counterintuitive practice of, making two municipalities “the principal site” for county government business.
Te legitimacy of one of the dual county seat arrangements is unquestioned. Arkansas’ 1874 Constitution clearly states Sebastian County may have two county seats in Article 13, Section 5: “Sebastian County may have two districts and two county seats, at which county, probate and circuit courts shall be held as may be provided by law, each district paying its own expenses.” Te allowance of a dual county seat system in Sebastian emanated from the chaos in the county in its early years regarding the location of the county seat produced by competition between Greenwood and the upstart town of Fort Smith. Sebastian County was created in 1851 from territory taken from three other counties. Te first county seat was at Eaton Tatum’s home in Jenny Lind, but it quickly moved to Greenwood. Tis was controversial, however, as Fort Smith was a growing boomtown in the northern part of the county thanks to its place as a stop on the wagon trail headed to the California. In 1852, the county seat shifted to Fort Smith. It was then moved back to Greenwood from 1854 to 1861. Te solution to this feud was found in 1861, when the Arkansas Legislature divided the county into a Northern district seated in Fort Smith and a Southern one seated in Greenwood. Te 1874 Constitution ratified the permanence of this set-up. Article 13 suggests other counties can choose to have additional county seats. However, the Constitution is also quite clear that the county’s voters must make any decision about any creation (or alteration) of a county seat at the ballot box. As Section 2 states: “No county seat shall be established or changed without the consent of a majority of the qualified voters of the county to be affected by such change…”
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