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Submitted: 3/26/20 • Approved: 3/26/20 • Last Updated: 3/29/20 • R1305826-G0-S3
The earliest evidence of human habitation around West Point is a burial mound constructed sometime after AD 1300. From the mid-seventeenth century onward, the West Point area was part of a hunting ground under the dominion of the Osage until the arrival of white settlers to White County, beginning in 1789. The foundation for a town was laid in 1850 when businessman J. M. West divided and sold lots along a high western bank of the Little Red River, naming it “West Point,” and it was quickly successful. West Point had an advantageous location on the Little Red; it was the farthest point upriver that was accessible to steamboats year-round.
Mobility in pre–Civil War days was dependent upon rivers—there were no local railroads yet, and perennial floods made overland travel tedious and problematic. Most White County commerce was facilitated through West Point, as cotton and other local goods made their way to markets in St. Louis, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; and New Orleans, Louisiana. Trade accessibility and an abundance of nearby bottomlands perfect for growing cotton translated into growth for the young town, which had 350 residents by 1860, not counting slaves.
encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/west-point-white-county
Contributed on 3/26/20 by hawkinsdonna48
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Record #: 1305826