Editing Pike County, Arkansas (section)

==History==
The first known residents of the area now considered Pike County were [[Native American name controversy|Native Americans]]. The [[Quapaw]] tribe was prominent in the area, as well as the [[Kadohadacho]], and Cahinnio tribes. Expeditions led by [[Hernando de Soto (explorer)|Hernando de Soto]] and [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle|Sieur de La Salle]] passed through the area. Around 1800, the Kadohadocho tribe migrated to [[Texas]] to avoid further repeated attacks by the [[Osage Nation|Osage]], who would venture in from the [[Oklahoma]] area.

Pike County was part of the [[Louisiana Purchase]] of 1803, and on November 1, 1833, Pike County was created out of [[Clark County, Arkansas|Clark]] and [[Hempstead County, Arkansas|Hempstead]] counties by the [[Arkansas Territory|Arkansas territorial legislature]] and named after [[Zebulon Pike]]. A [[post office]] was established in what is now [[Murfreesboro, Arkansas|Murfreesboro]], with the town itself receiving its name from some of its first residents having originated from [[Murfreesboro, Tennessee]]. Until it was officially named, Murfreesboro had been referred to as "Forks of the Missouri" or "Three Forks.” Much of the county's documented history was destroyed in the court house fires of 1855 and 1895.

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Pike County men formed two full companies for service in regiments formed in [[Montgomery County, Arkansas|Montgomery County]], in the [[Confederate Army]], with the most active being the [[4th Arkansas Infantry]], and the county was firmly in support of the [[Confederate States of America]]. In 1864, Murfreesboro served as a winter quarters for the Confederate regiments assigned to that area, with [[Union Army]] regiments wintering just eighteen miles away in and around [[Antoine, Arkansas|Antoine]].

In 1900, Martin White Greeson, who owned property in Pike County and also owned and operated the Murfreesboro-Nashville Southwest RailRoad, began campaigning for a dam on the [[Little Missouri River (Arkansas)|Little Missouri River]] to alleviate flooding. It was not until 1941 that the project was approved, and construction began on June 1, 1948, and was completed on July 12, 1951. The lake created by the dam was named [[Lake Greeson]] in Greeson's honor.

In the early 20th century, [[Rosboro, Arkansas]] was the headquarters of one of the state's most productive lumber [[sawmill|mill]]s and received its name from Thomas Whitaker Rosborough, owner of the lumber company. That company, originating in Rosboro, eventually moved to [[Springfield, Oregon]], where today it is one of the largest forest product producers in the U.S., and it operates under the name of the "Rosboro Timber Company.”

During [[World War II]], Murfreesboro was used as a site to house and work [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[prisoners of war]].

Since the late 19th century, the county's main source of employment has been the timber industry.