Editing Smithville, Arkansas (section)

==History==
Euro-American settlers first came to the area of Smithville in 1808.

Smithville became the county seat of modern-day Lawrence County in 1837. The county seat was later moved to [[Powhatan, Arkansas|Powhatan]] in 1869, after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. This was done in part to take advantage of [[riverboat]] commerce along the [[Black River (Arkansas–Missouri)|Black River]].

Smithville was the nearest town to the final shoot-out between law enforcement and the infamous tax fugitive [[Gordon Kahl]] on June 2, 1983, in which Lawrence County Sheriff Harold Gene Matthews was also killed.<ref>{{citation|title=The Milwaukee Sentinel - Jun 6, 1983|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QIFQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6980%2C1056754}}</ref> Smithville lies a few miles south of the actual shootout location.