Editing Earle, Arkansas (section)

==History==

=== Early history ===
The city of Earle originally started as two neighboring communities started in the 1860s, Earle and Norvell.{{r|miller}} Norvell was originally settled in July 1872 by local doctor James Throgmorton.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Biographical and historical memoirs of eastern Arkansas |publisher=Goodspeed Publishing Co. |year=1890 |location=Chicago, St. Louis [etc.] |pages=443}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2024}} Earle was a train stop established in the late 1880s on land owned by Josiah Francis Earle, a former [[Confederate States Army|Confederate soldier]] and [[Ku Klux Klan|Klansman]]. The train stop was established after his death in 1884.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sesser |first=David |title=Josiah Francis Earle (1828–1884) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/josiah-francis-earle-13553/ |access-date=February 2, 2024 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Reconstruction period ===
In 1888, a branch of the [[St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway|St. Louis, Iron Mountain, & Southern Railway]] was built south of Earle. The line still exists as a part of the Union Pacific Railroad.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Biographical and historical memoirs of eastern Arkansas |publisher=Goodspeed Publishing Co. |year=1890 |location=Chicago, St. Louis [etc.]}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2024}} The town had two lumber company-owned railroads connect to it in the early 1900s, the Crittenden Railroad and the Tyronza Lumber Company Railroad.<ref>{{Cite web |year=1913 |title=Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Earle, Crittenden County, Arkansas. |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4004em.g002381913/?sp=1&st=image&r=0.045,0.149,0.55,0.331,0 |publisher=Sanborn Map Company}}</ref>

=== Early 20th century ===
Originally, the Earle post office was located within Norvell. The move caused some controversy in the two communities, and in 1904 an altercation took place between the former and then current men who owned the land the post office sat on. John Watt, who formally controlled the post office, shot the current owner, W.M. Brown. Watt was later acquitted of the Brown's murder.<ref name=miller>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Adam |title=Norvell (Crittenden County) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/norvell-crittenden-county-7213/ |access-date=February 2, 2024 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>

From its formal incorporation in 1905 to the 1940s, Earle was one of the largest towns in Crittenden County. Referred to by locals as the "Pearl of the [[St. Francis River|St. Francis]]," for many years the town was a center of industry and an important transportation hub for the Arkansas Delta.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Adam |title=Earle (Crittenden County) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/earle-crittenden-county-869/ |access-date=February 2, 2024 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>

One of the more notable residents of Earle was George Berry Washington. Born into [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] in 1864, Washington established a thriving business as a landlord, and through this enterprise provided a means of income for hundreds of Black Arkansans. In 1928, the widow and family of local figure George Berry Washington had a [[George Berry Washington Memorial|monument]], known as "the Angel in the Field", built to honor Washington's life.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arkansas.com/earle |first=Julie |last=Kohl |title=Rev. George Berry Washington |date=December 2, 2020 |website=Only in Arkansas}}</ref>

In 1918, an African-American man named Elton Mitchell was eviscerated with a knife and hanged from a tree after he refused to work for a white landowner for free.<ref name="lynching13">{{cite book|title=Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror: Second Edition: Report Summary|date=2015|publisher=[[Equal Justice Initiative]]|location=Montgomery, Alabama|page=14|url=http://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-second-edition-summary.pdf|quote=In 1918, when Elton Mitchell of Earle, Arkansas, refused to work on a white-owned farm without pay, “prominent” white citizens of the city cut him into pieces with butcher knives and hung his remains from a tree.|access-date=May 16, 2017|archive-date=April 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429053159/http://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-second-edition-summary.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Crittenden County Museum Earle AR 02.jpg|thumb|The old Missouri Pacific Depot in Earle. Constructed in 1922, it is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Crittenden County, Arkansas|National Register of Historic Places]].|left]]

=== Modern era ===
A merger of Norvell and Earle was proposed as early as 1913. In 1978, the two towns were formally merged.{{r|miller}}

==== 2008 tornado ====
{{main|May 1–2, 2008 tornado outbreak}}

On May 2, 2008, [[WMC-TV]] reported that a [[tornado]] which was reported to be large and very dangerous affected the Earle area causing major damage in parts of the town and some injuries. There were reports of people missing or unaccounted for. Homes were reportedly destroyed, while businesses and the high school were damaged. The tornado was later confirmed on the same day as an EF3 on the [[Enhanced Fujita Scale]] with winds near 150 to 160&nbsp;mph.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tornados, damage reported in eastern Arkansas - WMC Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee |url=http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8263294&nav=menu59_2 |access-date=June 4, 2016 |website=Wmctv.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Mike Suriani |date=November 4, 2013 |title=Story Of Survival During Halloween Tornado In Caraway, AR |url=http://www.wreg.com/Global/story.asp?S=8263309 |access-date=June 4, 2016 |website=WREG.com }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The 2022 Earle mayoral election resulted in a historic victory for [[Jaylen Smith (politician)|Jaylen Smith]], who at 18 years old became the youngest Black person to be elected mayor in any U.S. city.<ref>{{cite web |first=Christian | last=Arriaga-Flores |title=18-Year-Old Jaylen Smith Will Be the Youngest Black Mayor in the Nation | website=Now This News | date=December 7, 2022 |url=https://nowthisnews.com/news/18-year-old-jaylen-smith-will-be-the-youngest-black-mayor-in-the-nation}}</ref>