Editing Gosnell, Arkansas (section)

== History ==
In the 1870s, a portion of the area east of what became the city of Gosnell was constituted as the North Sawba [[Cemetery]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 10, 1942 |title=North Sawba Cemetery on BAAF grounds |pages=1 |work=The Courier News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-news-north-sawba-cemetery-on/99414065/ |access-date=December 30, 2023}}</ref> Much of the land between Blytheville and Big Lake was purchased in the late 1800s by Lemael W. Gosnell, a dentist and pioneer farmer. In time, the community came to be named for him.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last=Lendennie |first=Pat |title=Gosnell (Mississippi County) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/gosnell-mississippi-county-936/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616013303/http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=936 |archive-date=June 16, 2010 |access-date=December 30, 2023 |website=www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net |publisher=Central Arkansas Library System}}</ref> A Tennessee native, L.W. Gosnell originally came to Mississippi County in 1876, working as a store clerk at Barfield Landing and Blytheville before becoming a partner in a general store in Blytheville.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Presley |first=Leister E., Mrs. |title=Goodspeed's Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas |publisher=The Goodspeed publishing co. |location=Chicago, Nashville and St, Louis |publication-date=1889 |pages=503}}</ref> 

The small community received its first railroad service sometime prior to 1903, after the [[St. Louis Southwestern Railway|Paragould and Southeastern Railroad]] extended its line from [[Hornersville, Missouri]] to Chickasawba, Arkansas (now eastern Blytheville).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Poor |first=Henry V. |title=Poor's Manual of Railroads |publisher=Poor's Railroad Manual Company |year=1904 |volume=39 |location=New York, NY |pages=532}}</ref>

By the mid-1920's, the community, now formally known as Gosnell, opened its own one room schoolhouse. For over a decade, the school was overseen by Superintendent C.F. Cooper, who oversaw the growth of the school and the addition of a high school curriculum by the time of his retirement in 1930.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gosnell School Holds Exercises |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/5688172/ |access-date=December 30, 2023 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Courier News |place=[[Blytheville, Arkansas]] |page=3 |language=en}}</ref> During the [[1937 flood]], the community hosted 300 homeless victims of the flood. It was reported that a large number of wild animals had fled from the eastern section of the county after a break in the levee resulted in flooding from the [[Mississippi River]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 9, 1937 |title=Game Finds Refuge from Flood at Gosnell |pages=2 |work=The Courier News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-news-game-finds-refuge-from/137697093/ |access-date=December 30, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=January 26, 1937 |title=8000 Homeless Receive Care in North District |pages=3 |work=The Courier News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-news-8000-homeless-receive-c/137697289/ |access-date=December 30, 2023}}</ref>

In 1942, the U.S. Army came to Mississippi County to survey for land to construct a pilot training school. By April of that year, they had notified 62 individual land owners in the Gosnell community that their land was being taken by the federal government.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 24, 1942 |title=File Suits to Condemn Gosnell Area |pages=9 |work=The Courier News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-news-file-suits-to-condemn/137698479/ |access-date=December 30, 2023}}</ref> By June, Blytheville Army Airfield, a [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25]] pilot training facility with three runways, was in operation. The school closed in 1946, and was converted into a suburb. The facility reopened in 1954 as [[Blytheville Air Force Base]], a [[Martin B-57 Canberra|B-57]] and later [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]] base.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hartley |first=Jillian |title=Eaker Air Force Base |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/eaker-air-force-base-2795/ |access-date=December 30, 2023 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>

Gosnell was incorporated as a first-class city on March 12, 1968. Gosnell's first mayor after incorporation was Andy Bevill.<ref name=":0" />