Editing St. Francis, Arkansas (section)

==History==
The St. Francis area was settled in the 1840s, with the early residents forming the [[Chalk Bluff, Arkansas|Chalk Bluff]] community just northwest of the present city. The [[Battle of Chalk Bluff]] was fought here in May 1863, during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].  In 1882, the [[St. Louis Southwestern Railway]] ("Cotton Belt") was constructed through the area, and the Chalk Bluff community gradually shifted southeastward to a location along the railroad tracks.  This new community was named "St. Francis" after the [[St. Francis River|adjacent river]] (the river itself was named after [[Francis of Assisi]]).<ref>Steven Teske, "[http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=6175 St. Francis (Clay County)]," ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture'', 2017.</ref>