Pine Bluff Arkansas History & Facts

Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combined Statistical Area. The population of the city was 49,083 in the 2010 Census with 2019 estimates showing a decline to 41,474.

The city is situated in the Southeast section of the Arkansas Delta and straddles the Arkansas Timberlands region to its west. Its topography is flat with wide expanses of farmland, similar to other places in the Delta Lowlands. Pine Bluff has numerous creeks, streams, and bayous, including Bayou Bartholomew, the longest bayou in the world and the second most ecologically diverse stream in the United States. Large bodies of water include Lake Pine Bluff, Lake Langhofer (Slack Water Harbor), and the Arkansas River.

The area along the Arkansas River had been inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous peoples of various cultures. They used the river for transportation as did European settlers after them, and for fishing. By the time of encounter with Europeans, the historical Quapaw were the chief people in the area, having migrated from the Ohio River valley centuries before.

The city of Pine Bluff was founded on a high bank of the Arkansas River heavily forested with tall pine trees. The high ground furnished settlers a safe haven from annual flooding. Joseph Bonne, a Métis fur trader and trapper of mixed Quapaw and colonial French ancestry, settled on this bluff in 1819.

1824–1860: Antebellum era
After the Quapaw signed a treaty with the United States in 1824 relinquishing their title to all the lands which they claimed in Arkansas, many other American settlers began to join Bonne on the bluff. In 1829 Thomas Phillips claimed a half section of land where Pine Bluff is located. Jefferson County was established by the Territorial Legislature on November 2, 1829, and began functioning as a county April 19, 1830.

At the August 13, 1832, county election, the pine bluff settlement was chosen as the county seat. The Quorum Court voted to name the village "Pine Bluff Town" on October 16, 1832. Pine Bluff was incorporated January 8, 1839, by the order of County Judge Taylor. At the time, the village had about 50 residents. Improved transportation aided in the growth of Pine Bluff during the 1840s and 1850s.

Pine Bluff is on the Arkansas River; the community was named for a bluff along that river. Both Lake Pine Bluff and Lake Langhofer are situated within the city limits, as these are bodies of water which are remnants of the historical Arkansas River channel. (The former is a man-made expansion of a natural oxbow; the latter was created by diking the old channel after a man-made diversion.) Consequently, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (or the Arkansas Delta) runs well into the city with Bayou Bartholomew picking up the western border as a line of demarcation between the Arkansas Delta and the Arkansas Timberlands.

A series of levees and dams surrounds the area to provide for flood control and protect from channel shift. One of the world's longest individual levees at 380 miles runs from Pine Bluff to Venice, Louisiana.

Famous Peoples From Pine Bluff Arkansas

Mary Mouser

(born May 9, 1996) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Samantha LaRusso in the Netflix series Cobra Kai, and Lacey Fleming on the ABC series Body of Proof. She also took over the role of Karen Grant, Fitz & Mellie's daughter on Scandal in Season 4.

Mouser started her career at the age of six when she was chosen as a photo-double for Abigail Breslin's character in Signs.

She was featured on the Starz Kids & Family series Eloise: The Animated Series as the voice of Eloise and appeared as the child-lead in the Hallmark Channel original movie A Stranger's Heart. She has done voice work for animated features such as Dragon Hunters, Tarzan II, and Pom Poko, and was a voice actress in the audio drama series, Adventures in Odyssey as Samantha McKay, younger sister of Grady McKay.

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