Editing Forrest City, Arkansas (section)

==History==
===19th century===
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, Arkansas|Little Rock]]. 

[[Nathan Bedford Forrest]], a Confederate General and later the first [[Grand Wizard]] of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], became interested in the area around Crowley's Ridge during the [[American 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 (Arkansas)|White River]].  The route traversed the challenging Crowley's Ridge and [[L'Anguille River]] bottoms. In 1868, train service through Forrest City was established. 

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," which was later named Forrest City and was incorporated on May 11, 1870.  

The county seat was initially located in the now defunct town of [[Franklin, Arkansas|Franklin]] until 1840, when it was moved to [[Madison, Arkansas|Madison]].  In 1855 it was moved to [[Mount Vernon, Arkansas|Mount Vernon]] where the court house burned in 1856 destroying county records. This prompted a move back to Madison. The county seat was moved to Forrest City in 1874, where the courthouse was assigned to a wooden structure.  When it burned shortly thereafter, county records were again destroyed. 

In 1889, the city was the site of [[1889 Forrest City riot|a white race riot]] that resulted in their expulsion of African American leaders.

===20th century===
The Imperial Council of Jugamos, a fraternal organization of African Americans founded in 1910 by Wallace Leon Purifoy had its headquarters in Forrest City.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b9mJ6sT-1bAC&dq=%C2%A0purifoy+arkansas+jugamos&pg=PA91|title=The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race|first=Clement|last=Richardson|date=June 7, 1919|publisher=National Publishing Company|via=Google Books}}</ref> The ''Forrest City Herald'' printed its constitution in 1916.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYL3zQEACAAJ|title=Constitution and General Laws of the Imperial Council of Jugamos|first=Imperial Council of|last=Jugamos|date=June 7, 1916|publisher=Forrest City Herald Print|via=Google Books}}</ref> The ''New Castle Herald'' noted the group and its officers in 1919.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-castle-herald-1919-01-15/12895677/|title=1919 - 01 15 -|date=January 15, 1919|pages=4|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

In 1940, Forrest City was a stop for the ''[[Choctaw Rocket]]'', a passenger train operated by the [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad]].  Service was discontinued in 1964. Evidence that [[giant mastodons]] roamed the slope was revealed in 1949 when workmen excavating for sewer improvements found bones of the massive beasts within the city limits.

In 1988, [[Forrest City High School]] held its first integrated prom. After school integration was ordered in the mid-1960s, Forrest City eliminated school-sponsored dances and social activities. For 23 years, social clubs and individual families had organized a racially [[segregated prom]].<ref>{{cite news | last = McIntosh | first = Barbara | title = The Class That Crossed the Great Divide; In Arkansas, a High School's First Integrated Prom | newspaper = The Washington Post | date = May 2, 1988 | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73589335.html?dids=73589335:73589335&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+02%2C+1988&author=Barbara+McIntosh&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=The+Class+That+Crossed+the+Great+Divide%3B+In+Arkansas%2C+a+High+School%27s+First+Integrated+Prom&pqatl=google | access-date = July 6, 2017 | archive-date = November 18, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121118195028/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73589335.html?dids=73589335%3A73589335&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&type=current&date=May+02%2C+1988&author=Barbara+McIntosh&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=The+Class+That+Crossed+the+Great+Divide%3B+In+Arkansas%2C+a+High+School%27s+First+Integrated+Prom&pqatl=google | url-status = dead }}</ref>

===21st century===
In 2018, the city elected Cedric Williams as mayor; Williams is the third African American mayor in the city's history.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://armoneyandpolitics.com/tide-is-turning-black-mayors-popping-up-across-arkansas/|title=Tide Is Turning: Black Mayors Popping Up Across Arkansas|first=Ryan|last=Nix|date=February 3, 2020|access-date=September 13, 2020}}</ref>