Editing Clarendon, Arkansas (section)

===Settlement through antebellum period===
The area around Clarendon was originally populated by various [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] groups. By 1799, French hunters and trappers had built cabins at the mouth of the [[Cache River (Arkansas)|Cache River]]. It was the point where the Military Road from [[Memphis, Tennessee]], to [[Little Rock]] crossed the [[White River (Arkansas)|White River]]. The Military Road was begun in 1826 and completed in 1828. By that date, a ferry crossing and post office had been established in Clarendon, and the town served as the terminus for a stagecoach line to the west. The Military Road was used as the route for some groups of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] being relocated from eastern states to [[Oklahoma]] during the forced relocations commonly known as the [[Trail of Tears]]; [[Chickasaw]], [[Choctaw]], [[Creek people|Creek]], and [[Cherokee]] groups are known to have traveled along it.

The town also acquired railroad connections.  In 1872 the town was added to the Arkansas Central Railway, later the [[Arkansas Midland Railroad]], linking it to the Mississippi River port of Helena, Arkansas.<ref name=Narrow>{{cite book |last=Hilton |first=George W.|date=1990 |title= American Narrow Gauge Railroads|publisher= Stanford University Press|pages=75–80,313–314|isbn=0-8047-2369-9}}</ref><ref name=NarrowEnc>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/narrow-gauge-railroads-5987/ |title=Narrow Gauge Railroads|publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref><ref name=Helena>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/helena-west-helena-phillips-county-950/ |title=Helena-West Helena|publisher= Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=June 15, 2024}}</ref>  Though it required construction of a 4-mile-long White River bridge and trestle, Clarendon was added to the line of the [[Texas and St. Louis Railway]], a continuous system between Texas and Missouri, by mid-1883.<ref name=Museum>{{cite web|url= https://arkansasrailroadmuseum.org/about/cotton-belt-route.html  |title=St. Louis Southwestern Railroad History|publisher=Arkansas Railroad Museum|accessdate=October 5, 2023}}</ref>    The Texas and St. Louis Railway trackage became the [[St. Louis Southwestern Railway]] or “Cotton Belt” in 1891, and the Arkansas Midland trackage later became the part of the [[St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway]] in 1910.<ref name=Museum/><ref name=Narrow/>