Editing Forrest City, Arkansas (section)

===19th century===
On October 13, 1827, St. Francis County, located in the east central part of Arkansas, was officially organized by the [[Arkansas Territorial Legislature]] in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]]. 

[[Nathan Bedford Forrest]], a Confederate General and later the first [[Grand Wizard]] of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], became interested in the area around Crowley's Ridge during the [[American Civil War]]. In 1866, General Forrest and C. C. McCreanor contracted to finish the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad from Madison located on the [[St. Francis River]] to DeValls Bluff on the west bank of the [[White River (Arkansas)|White River]].  The route traversed the challenging Crowley's Ridge and [[L'Anguille River]] bottoms. In 1868, train service through Forrest City was established. 

Forrest later built a commissary on Front Street. Colonel V.B. Izard began the task of designing the town at the same time. Most residents were calling the area "Forrest's Town," which was later named Forrest City and was incorporated on May 11, 1870.  

The county seat was initially located in the now defunct town of [[Franklin, Arkansas|Franklin]] until 1840, when it was moved to [[Madison, Arkansas|Madison]].  In 1855 it was moved to [[Mount Vernon, Arkansas|Mount Vernon]] where the court house burned in 1856 destroying county records. This prompted a move back to Madison. The county seat was moved to Forrest City in 1874, where the courthouse was assigned to a wooden structure.  When it burned shortly thereafter, county records were again destroyed. 

In 1889, the city was the site of [[1889 Forrest City riot|a white race riot]] that resulted in their expulsion of African American leaders.